God Bless Kenya!

From Germany, we travelled to Africa, spending two weeks in the beautiful Kenya, culminating in, what else but a feast. I did not have high hopes for African food, but it was, to my surprise, delicious, Butterfly's favorite so far.

We decorated the table with country cards from a geography card game;the flag of Kenya; a book; a photo of one of our adored Compassion kids, Roy, who is Kenyan; and a couple of African animal figurines.

As God blessed us with each of our children, we "adopted" a Compassion child. With Historian, we adopted Roy from Kenya; Lizard's counterpart is Elyssa from India; and Butterfly's partner is Shirley from Ecuador. We are blessed to have them in our lives.

New to our feasts were my mother-in-law and nephew. They were in town (along with my nephew's parents who were on a date) to celebrate an early Christmas with us. In meal planning for their visit, it occurred to me that this would be a perfect time for Historian to cook one his feasts. Even my nephew enjoyed most of his food, but he went simply crazy for the tapioca with pineapple.

Ethiopian curry chicken had just the right amount of spice. Historian accompanied it with other African-inspired dishes: mashed potatoes, tapioca with pineapple and cornbread.

By mixing peas and corn into mashed potatoes, you create irio, a dish originating with the Kikuyu people of Kenya. Irio has many variations, but this is a popular one.

North America, South America, Europe and Africa: we've visited four of the seven continents in our first semester geography study. The itinerary for our next continent will allow us to spend the most time there, perhaps because of the vastness in size as well as the diversity and beauty of the peoples who live there: here we come Asia!

God Bless Germany!

Studying Germany was especially fun for our family, as all three of our kids have been involved in Bavarian schuhplattler for several years. Schuhplattler translates as shoe slapping. We got involved, not because we are certain we have German ancestry, although we might, but because I was looking for a physical fitness opportunity for Lizard.

Butterfly in her dirndl for a schuhplattler performance during Oktoberfest.

Historian, especially, loves all things German. Perhaps part of the reason is that one of his best pals in Pittsburgh has a German-born mother. He is interested in the culture, the language, the history and the food. We felt this was his best "feast" yet, not just because it was absolutely delicious, but also because he showed more confidence than ever in the kitchen.

Historian showed excellent knife skills in preparing the pork to become schnitzel.

The table was decorated with the colors of the German flag, a doll in a dirndl, an Oktoberfest stein, a puzzle and game from Germany as well as German-made Schleich figures.

Historian and his perfectly cooked pork shnitzel and spaetzel (homemade German noodles).

The applesauce represents the more than 130 quarts made and canned by my friend K and me in October. I was taught how to make bulk applesauce by my German-born friend Vera.

Historian also prepared a scrumptious Black Forest cake that had us all raving.

After dinner, we played Labyrinth Der Meister, a German-language game given to us by our German-born friend Heidi.

Fortunately, we never completely left Germany. Because of schuhplattler, Historian's status as a Germanophile and our love for the German friends God has put in our lives, Germany will always be close to our hearts.

Next stop, Kenya!