Domino Effect

Sometimes weird things happen.  For instance, I put on this hat for warmth and start to feel fashionable.  I look in the mirror and feel like I should be in Mongolia.  I dream about Mongolia all weekend long and blog about it.

 

 

This is the very fashionable me pretending I'm in Mongolia.  Yep, I'm running away from men on horseback hunting for gazelle.  They have spears.  By the way, I just bluetoothed this from my phone to my computer.  What?!?  Technology these days.

 

Back to Mongolia.  It's right north of China.  Run across the Great Wall of China and wha bam you're there.  When I think of Mongolia I think cold, frost bitten cheeks.  Come to find out it has more the climate of Oklahoma with summers that aren't so hot and winters that are a little more cold.

 

Not to mention it's official website has hiking as an activity.  I am a wanna be hiker so this makes my heart go pitter patter.  There is also camel riding and wildlife watching. 

 

Most Mongols are nomadic and wander from pasture to pasture with their sheep.  Some have become permanent farmers and other live in cities due to the influence of the Soviet Union. 

 

They eat fat (yes straight up fat) and mutton (sheep) most of the time.  They live in these tents that look like yurts.   I love these things and plan to stay in one eventually.  It's on my bucket list.

 

Their two main religions are their ethnic religions with medicine men and Buddhism while the rest are classified as non-religious.

 

The Joshua Project lists these ways we can pray for this man and his countrymen.

* Pray that Christian workers would have unity as they reach this large unreached people group for Jesus.
* Pray that the Mongol men would rise up to become strong in the Lord.
* Pray that God will open the hearts of the Khalkha Mongol government leaders to the Gospel.
* Ask God to set the Khalkha Mongol free from their bondage to occultism and Shamanistic beliefs.
* Pray that the doors of Mongolia will soon open to Christian missionaries.
* Pray that God will reveal Himself to the Khalkha Mongol through dreams and visions.
* Pray that alcoholism, violence, and divorce will be wiped out.
* Ask God to raise up teams of intercessors who will faithfully stand in the gap for the Khalkha Mongol.
* Pray that Christians will have opportunities to introduce the Khalkha Mongol to the Prince of Peace.

Come One Come All

Instead of telling you all about me decorating for Christmas (because our lights don't work and I can't find our stockings) I'm going to let you in on a little secret.  The Cushing band is having its annual Christmas concert this Sunday December 9!  This proud sister is going and you should too.

The concert starts at 2 pm in the auditorium by the high school, but if you want a little something to eat before hand you can attend the pork chop dinner in the field house at noon.  Both the concert and the pork chops are guaranteed to be wonderful.

So, grab your family members and friends and join me as I'm serenaded in lovely Christmas jingles by an amazing jazz band.  Okay, so there is more than just a jazz band.  That's just my favorite part so it gets a special shout out.

Heart of a Farmer

A Sunday morning tradition around the Morris house is to watch CBS Sunday morning.  I have missed this tradition lately, but occasionally dad fills me in on stories I may like.  Just this evening he told me about a story on chocolate or rather cacao from Congo.  To watch, click here. 

I needed to know more.  My heart has an unmistakable and sometimes unexplainable need to help those farmers in countries such as Congo and Honduras.  They have a commodity we as Americans love and occasionally think we can't live without.  Okay.  I know I can't live without chocolate.

I've seen first hand how developed countries (U.S., Canada, Great Britain) have given handouts to developing nations to the point they expect us to keep giving.  Why do it themselves when someday a North American will come and do it for them?  For the longest time we have been inadvertently telling them they can't do anything without our help.  They are poor, uneducated, and need our benevolence.  Right?

Maybe that's true, but I would like to propose we're going about it the wrong way.  Instead of giving them handouts, maybe we should teach them how to do it themselves.  Oh, you need a chicken coop.  Well, instead of shipping all the parts from Texas, lets go to your local ag store and see what they have.

Your corn isn't producing enough to supply your family with food for an entire year?  Let's see if we can plant it closer together, or add some fertilizer to get the yield up.  That would have a greater long term impact than shipping them a five pound bag of rice.

What Theo Chocolate is doing is paying the hard working farmer what he deserves to get for his cacao crop.  Rewarding him for trying to provide for his family.  So it may cost twice as much, but why not spend the extra  2 bucks?  That's less than a drink from Starbucks, a six pack of Dr. Pepper, a bottle of nail polish, a combo meal at McDonald's.

I buy chocolate anyway, why not buy from a company dedicated to the well being of the cacao farmer?

Oh, and this week I tried 72% cacao for the first time.  It's healthier and has fewer calories.  Love it! 

And if you are at all interested in donating to a ministry dedicated to reaching the hearts of people by sharing the Gospel and teaching them about agriculture rather than giving them handouts check out 61 Isaiah Ministries.  I've worked with them personally and LOVE what they do and the way they go about doing it. 

Love of Candy Canes

I love just about everything about Thanksgiving: the fall leaves, pumpkin decorations, harvest time, being thankful, eating off dinner plates with colors of amber, yellow, orange, and green.  This week I had to put up all the thanksgiving decorations...and the plates.  Can you tell I really loved the plates?  Oh, we have Christmas plates, but holly just doesn't seem to compare to the hues of Thanksgiving.

One thing I don't particularly like about Thanksgiving time is that everything is flavored like pumpkin.  Pumpkin lattes, pumpkin pie, pumpkin cookies.  I could live my entire life without eating anything flavored like pumpkin. 

Now peppermint is where my true holiday favorite flavor is found.  Peppermint hot chocolate, peppermint chapstick, peppermint kisses.  Usually my house has mint tea too.

 

So, to jumpstart my Christmas cheer, I made peppermint cookies shaped like candy canes!  Now the fun part about this cookie recipe is that the peppermint flavoring can be substituted for the flavoring of your choice. Almond, citrus, and rum are just a few I have on hand. 

Background:
I got this recipe from my magical book of recipes.  Okay, basically that means that somewhere down the road my mom or I cut it off a box, printed it off, or found it in a magazine. 

Recipe:

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 cup softened butter
3 oz. package of soft cream cheese
1 tsp. peppermint or favorite flavoring
2 egg yolks (reserve whites)
2 1/2 cups flour

In a large bowl, place sugar, butter, cream cheese, peppermint and egg yolks.  Beat until blended.  Then mix in flour.  Cover and refrigerate at least 2  hours or overnight.  On a well floured board roll out dough 1/4"-1/2" thick.  Cut out cookies with cookie cutters and place on cookie sheet.  Brush top of cookie with egg white sprinkle with colored sugar or leave plain for frosting later.  Heat oven to 375 degrees.  Bake for 7-10 minutes or until lightly brown on bottom.



Rating: [***]
Very peppermint-y, which was my goal.  They are a little crumbly, but I guess that's better than being hard.  They are definitely a cookie that shares the Christmas spirit, but not one that you would want to snack on all day long.  Plus the recipe makes plenty to share with all your friends and co-workers.

Change it up:
I ran out of time to decorate them how I wanted.  Here are some ideas I came up with.  Instead of using sprinkles you could crush up some peppermints to put on top, make it interesting by frosting them, or dip an end in chocolate because chocolate peppermint goodness is twice as good at just plain old peppermint goodness.

So share your Christmas spirit by baking these cookies for your friends!  And you non-peppermint lovers, remember you can change it up by using the flavor of your choice.  If you plan on making them citrus cookies, I would hold up until I make my citrus butter cookies.  They are to die for.