Rocket Stove Class

 Grady attended a workshop to learn how to make rocket stoves. They are ingeniously designed, for third world cooking. The stoves are extremely efficient and designed to reduce the amount of smoke emitted during use. We noticed while in Belize that the cooking conditions for women in some of the poorer villages was extremely smokey and inefficient. Upon our return to the States, we heard about these great stoves (and ovens and whole kitchens!) made out of organic matter and materials and can be made with simple tools which could be found in most third world countries. We are wondering if this Rocket Stove may be a blessing and a good alternate to what they are cooking on down there. Our friends the Rubins had shown an interest to learn how to make them also and opted to come along to learn with us! They hope to come visit us in Belize and help make them.

                                                                  Rocket Stove

John starts by mixing up organic matter and ash for the clay

Moving the formed brick to dry

Starting the next piece

Packing it down

 

 

 

 

These will be baked and assembled to make a rocket stove

 

Here is a finished stove. They are designed to use very little wood with virtually no smoke..

 

 

 

 

Rocket Kitchen

The guys were especially interested in the Rocket kitchen which includes an oven and 2 burners. The kitchen is formed with rebar and cement. Here you can see the three small holes in the front for the small fires which heat the 2 burners and oven. John lights them all with just a few pieces of wood to get them heated up for the meal he and his wife Flip prepared for us.

 

 

After being lit, there was just a small amount of smoke and then virtually none at all

 

it warmed up pretty quickly

 

Flip starts putting together the soup..

 

Set to simmer..

 

And into the oven went the rolls

 

 

Flip had set a lovely table for our group.

 

 

After only a half hour, with very minimal wood usage, she had prepared an amazing soup and rolls. all cooked in the Rocket Kitchen!

 

 

Flip helps the girls wash up

We had such a lovely day with this couple! It was so special to hear of the people who they had trained to make the stoves and where they were being constructed and the way in which they were helping to improve the lives of families worldwide. Thank you friends for taking the time to teach and encourage our families! Lord bless you both for your work and devotion to the Lord and others.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Praise Report!~ Update on Ryan

We recently found out that Ryan's biopsy results showed that Ryan has a cyst in his jaw bone, extending into his sinus cavity which is non-cancerous and non-reoccurring! We are so grateful for the good news! His surgery to remove the cyst is scheduled for the morning of January 18th. We would appreciate your prayers for that. The other part of the praise report is that all of the surgery expense has been gifted to us by a friend. We are so touched by their desire to fulfill what the New Testament says about brothers and sisters in Christ helping one another: Even though we do not attend the same fellowship, we are all part of the body.. and they wanted to help us in this time. This  has been such a blessing since we are trying to save up a fund for Belize as we are self supported. Thank you dear friends for this incredible blessing.

³² Now the multitude of those who believed were of one heart and one soul; neither did anyone say that any of the things he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common. Acts 4:32 NKJV

² Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. Galatians 6:2 NKJV

A Special Gift

Grace has had special needs since birth. We first noticed that she was different at one day old. She didn't really like being held much and to my heartbreak she simply refused to nurse. At age 6 months all she could tolerate was a homemade goat milk formula which she would barely gag down, we think because of the texture.. She was underweight, sickly and frequently unhappy. Noises, smells and unpredictable movements while being carried or while in a car would send her into hysterics. As she grew she would push us away and didn't really like being held. As a toddler attending busy events would cause her to scream all night long because of the overstimulation of the day. She would bang her head on her crib and rock back and forth for hours, not wanting to be comforted.  She would roll around screaming on the floor, biting and kicking in what we now know as a melt down. Our family was somewhat in a crisis because no one understood what we were going through at home. During that time we were told numerous times that she just lacked discipline.. and that we were focusing on her and the problems too much. We cried out to the Lord who simply lead us and impressed upon us that she was different and that spanking for the behavior was not what she needed. I finally taped one episode for my mother who, after watching the clip finally 'got it'. It was a very lonely time for us. While in Belize Grace would still have major meltdowns but as her communication improved so did her behavior. That has made a great difference in our family and for her. She now can tell us what is wrong.. which allows us to comfort her or fix a situation.. or just help her work through things. We don't know what her actual diagnosis would be if we were to take her to a doctor, nor do we feel we need one. Because of her behaviors, melt downs, sensory issues, natural musical talent, ability to reason, memorize and recall we have been told it could be Asperger's which is on the high functioning spectrum of Autism. But God made her special and at the end of the day, it doesn't matter 'what' it is.She is made in God's image and we are so blessed to be her family.. She has strengthened our family and caused us to grow and love in ways we could never dream of.

Recently we were linked up with a local ministry called Project Logan which makes special weighted blankets for children with sensory disorders and children with autism. After contacting Project Logan we took Gracie to the quilt store where she got to pick out 2 yards of her favorite fabric. 2 weeks later our new friend had created Grace's special blanket which was constructed to fit her just right, taking into consideration her weight and height. Plastic washable beads are sewn into channels across the blanket, in her case distributing 4 lbs evenly throughout the blanket. The seamstress we met was so kind and even had returned to the quilt shop to purchase additional fabric to make Gracie 2 matching pillowcases!  Grace has had the blanket for a week now and has really been enjoying curling up with it during quiet time, at night, in the car and especially when she gets stressed. She is now actually sleeping through the night without waking with night terrors.. This is an answer to prayer. We are grateful to the Lord for our new friends at Project Logan who gave our little girl such a special gift. We will never forget their kindness toward her.

 

We praise the Lord for the manifold kindness He has shown to our family. We praise Him for His infinite wisdom and mercy and goodness and faithfulness toward us. We give thanks to the Lord for He is so very good. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Another Thanksgiving Dinner! :-)

Our fourth and final Thanksgiving Dinner of 2013 was celebrated with our fun friends and their families. We felt honored to be included as 'family'

 

 

Chris and Grady cut up at the ham!

Chris enlisted Grady to carve it

Good job honey!

 

Amanda and Liyara set the table

 

 

 

The Kids Table.. ( I hear it got a bit wild in there!)

 

After dinner we enjoyed 2 birthday cakes that our friends had made..one for Grant and one for their special friend Bill. Thank you, dear friends for making Grant feel so special!

Happy Birthday to you Grant!

Panacea and Amanda sit and sing together for a time

After some sweet singing, we had fun making snowflakes..

 

I am afraid we may have overstayed our visit! Mandy is a-yawning.. time to head out! We have been so very blessed by this Thanksgiving Season. We have so many special friends and family, near and far who we can thank our Lord Jesus for. We are so blessed beyond measure and treasure every moment with you all, through email, by phone, in person.... May the Lord give us a thankful heart every day of the year! By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name. Hebrews 13:15

 

 

3rd Thanksgiving Dinner

Ok well, I have to do a post on our third and wonderful Thanksgiving dinner! The problem is, we were so busy having a great time with Nana and Papa Ben that we hardly took any photos! Papa made us a delicious duck stew and marvelous pumpkin spice cake! We had a nice time visiting and playing with Flora, the Goldendoodle that Ashley and Amanda raised and gave to Nana for her birthday.

That's my Mama! Can you see the resemblance? :-)

 

Flora makes herself at home!

 

Flora, AKA 'The Nose'

 

Thank you for coming Nana and Papa! It was such a nice relaxed day here at the McDonald homestead. Thank you for making the drive.. it was nice to just lay low and have a quiet day with you all, playing with the kids and Flora. Love you guys!