Paurumani with the Tias

Myles making the fire to cook our chicken over!

They say spur the moment trips are the best and I would have to agree. That is the type of outing we had to Paurumani Park with a couple of our favorite Tias that worked at Casa de Amor. It was so great to not only be with them for an evening, but also to be out of the city enjoying the fresh air!

Picnic time

Peter's first time at Paurumani

David, Clancy, and Gustavo enjoying the great outdoors!

Ruth and Paula my "little mommies"

David loving the water

Adriana another "sweet mommy"

Two of our favorite Tias...
Tia Sarin w/ our Peter and Tia Rosi w/ her daughter Roció 

We brought chicken to cook over the fire, coleslaw, mashed potatoes, and watermelon. Yumminess!!! Rudi and Myles did most of the cooking and boy did it taste good!

Time to eat!

I don't know what it is about little kids and watermelon, but I love taking pictures of my kids with watermelon. I couldn't decide which picture I liked the best of David from these below and you get a bonus one of Adriana, too!!

Hmm, think I will dive in!!

Finally, a cheesy grin...

Yah, this is good

Audrey always good for a smile!

Emily happy abut having her picture taken!!!

All too soon it was time to head out. All of the younger kids got wet in the water before we headed for home!!

Last Horita Feliz 2015

300+ Cinnamon Rolls ready to be baked!

 This past Saturday was our last Horita Feliz for the year 2015. Rudi offered to make his famous Cinnamon Rolls as a special treat for all the students. Around 250 mothers and children came, so there were plenty to share around afterwards!!

El Maestro frosting!

We are going to miss these faces!

The music crew!

Gladys leading the singing!

Passing out the goodies and the gifts...

In many ways it has felt like a long year, with every Saturday afternoon full with the Horita Feliz, but we will really miss participating in this ministry. It has really helped and challenged our Spanish to teach each weekend. Rudi, myself, Emily, and Myles have all taken turns teaching and helping out this past year. I was able to get to know many of the women who come each week on a deeper level. Most times we all sat around chatting together after the Bible study time each week.

Our theme this year was Genesis. I really enjoyed teaching through this book. There are so many truths found in this book that are foundational to the follower of Jesus Christ. I also loved seeing all the "pictures" of Christ as I taught through Genesis this year!

On Becoming Health Nuts

Adam and Eve????
I think this pile cost around $20 USD!

Toward the end of November I took a medicine that really messed up my liver. In an effort to recover naturally I went on an all fruit diet for six days! Thankfully, Rudi had gone to the market where they sell fruit wholesale and had bought LOTS of fruit for all of us to enjoy. Since then he has gone back each week to stock up on fantastic fruit at great prices. If you have to go on a fruit diet, this is the place to do it!!

Our very own "Statue of Liberty"... I mean Pineapple"!

At the Saturday market (where we sold cinnamon rolls) we met a really nice man from Montana who recently arrived here in Coch to work as a missionary. Darryl knows all about lacto-fermentation. Foods that have been lacto-fermented are all really good for your digestive system: sauerkraut, pickles, kvass, etc. Basically, any type of vegetable can be lacto-fermented easily. 

We invited Darryl over to teach us how to lacto-ferment things. We started with making pickles; pickles are ready to eat in only six days. The sauerkraut takes four weeks, so we are still waiting on eating that. The pickles lasted about five minutes after they were ready!

Darryl and Myles with their beautiful jar of pickles. 

All ready to wait!!

Then we made sauerkraut from green and purple cabbages. All we added to them was salt and they made their own juice.

Getting the cabbages ready.

"Serious Business"

Our beautiful cabbage all cut and ready to go.

Massaging in the salt!

Putting it in the jar...

We can't wait to try the sauerkraut since the pickles were such a hit. We only have a few weeks to go! I will try to remember to blog about what the final product looks and tastes like...

And the almost finished product!

Another Pedestrian Day

Ready to take on the roads!

The end of November brought us yet another Pedestrian Day! Our "big" kids opted to stay home, but Rudi and I took out the six youngest down to our nearby market and back. As always it was fun to be out on the roads with no cars on them! We got lots of stares. First, for being gringos and secondly, because of our adopted "chocolate" babies!

Mommy and chillin"s

Now its Daddy's turn...

 It really was a jungle of people and bicycles on Avenida Blanco Galindo.

Its a jungle out there!!

We stopped for a few moments to let Paula, David, and Adriana enjoy a "carnival ride". The motor was the man pushing it around!;)

Paula on Dumbo!

David in a truck! (Notice the man with the hat
behind. He is the "motor"!)

...and Adriana in her go-cart!

We had a good time at the market. The highlight being the purchase of lollipops for everyone! Adriana had an accident and so we bought her a new GAP dress for a $1.00. Pretty handy!

Getting excited over our lollipops!!

 I loved all the facial expressions in these pictures...

Yeah!!

Third World Thanksgiving

 Happy Thanksgiving everyone! This year we had a great Thanksgiving! My kids went above and beyond to make it special. This is personally my favorite holiday and it felt really sweet to see my kids carrying on our Thanksgiving traditions so far from home!

Clancy got the hankering for some good ole' homemade ice cream to go with the traditional apple pie; so he rigged up what we dubbed, The Third World Ice Cream Maker! It consisted of a bucket, with another smaller bucket inside complete with lid and small window to see how the ice cream was coming, ice, salt, and his and Myles battery powered drill! It only took an hour and a half to make. Oh, I forgot to mention that he welded a "paddle" to go inside the bucket to turn the liquids inside. Because it took so long to make, Emily came up with a way to have it be "automatic". Pretty ingenious!

Clancy with his Third World Ice Cream Maker!

Looking good!

"Look, Mom, no hands"
You just don't want to see what happens when it gets bumped!!!

All of our older children got in on the dessert making! Emily made some of the more practical things like the dressing and rolls, as well as a chocolate brownie cheesecake!! I think the rolls and chicken were a joint effort with Rudi and Emily. I love to admit that I did not make a thing!!! Hey, if others enjoy cooking so much, I would not want to get in the way!:)

Ruth and Clara having fun!

 Myles is not usually found in the kitchen, but he surprised us all and made some yummy pies, a mango cheesecake and an apple pie!

Chef Myles at work

And with the first apple pie he had ever made!

Pies by Myles

 We have found that turkey is so expensive here that we have gone to having chickens... I know it is almost sacrilegious. One bonus is that the chickens come with the heads, so you can have a conversation with them prior to eating them!!! Just kidding!!

Hmm, and what do we do with this part???

Each Thanksgiving we have been in Cochabamba, we have had the volunteers and families from Casa de Amor for dinner. This year we only had volunteers, as all of the "families" have left us...sob...sob...
We really did miss having the Beatys and the Alvarezes, but it was great to have the volunteers. This year we had Sarah from Ireland, Hannah from Louisiana, Danyelle from Texas, Kayla and Laura from Texas, and their friend Daniel from Bolivia!

The Rudi Boohers "Thanksgiving 2015"

And the Boohers with the rest of this year's crew.
All of us on the left.... Sarah, Hannah, Daniel, Danyelle, Laura,
Kayla, and Emily on the far right!

Lots of food to be thankful for...

...and even more desserts to be thankful for!!!

Every year no matter where we celebrate Thanksgiving it is always such a great time to remember all of the things we have to be thankful for. Our founding Fathers had, I think, one of their best moments when they created this holiday unique to the United States of America.

I give thanks this year for my precious family that Rudi and I have together and also for our extended family that now numbers over 100 people!!! I am also eternally grateful for the work of Jesus Christ in my life, taking my sin and judgement from me and promising me eternal life in Heaven one day. It just doesn't get any better than that!!

Psalm 107:22 "And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare his works with rejoicing."