Learning Spanish!

Hola, mi amigos y mi familia! (I think that could be roughly translated to "Hello, my friends and family!" Correct me if I'm wrong. ;-) I know the length of time between blog posts has been getting ridiculous, but I'm hoping that since my (Amy's) school has now dismissed for the summer, I will have a chance to post more often. Anyway, let me tell you what I've been up to! As some of you already know, I have been blessed with the opportunity to travel to Mexico this June with a team from my church. We will be working with Youth With A Mission in serving the people of Ensenada. I am so excited! As a team, we will be doing some or all of the following: working at a local orphanage, putting on a Vacation Bible School for the local children, doing light construction and maintenance work, and ministering through street evangelism/dramas. One thing I am praying about is the language barrier. I took one year of Spanish in high school, but my Spanish skills leave much to be desired. My wonderful youth pastor recently gave me a Spanish/English New Testament (along with Psalms and Proverbs), and I decided to try memorizing a few verses before we leave. So, the first one I tackled was, "Porque tanto amo Dios al mundo, que dio a su Hijo unigenito, para que todo el que cree en el no se pierda, sino que tenga vida eterna." Any guesses as to the reference? (Keep in mind I don't know how to actually type in the Spanish punctuation, so I'm missing a few accent marks here!) I am so enjoying reading and memorizing the Bible in another language and trying to figure out the translation back to English! If you think of it, please join me in prayer for this trip. Ask the Lord to make us teachable, and willing and able to serve. Ask that He will fill us with His Spirit, so that our work may be fruitful for His kingdom. Pray for safety and health for all, especially with current concerns about swine flu and Mexican drug cartels. Thanks for your thoughts and prayers! God bless you all!

Valentine's/Birthday Party

Aren't these goreous? Our dad bought us three red roses, one for each of us. None of us had ever gotten flowers for Valentine's Day before, and red roses are my (Julie's) absolute favorite. What a wonderful guy! Our Dad doesn't really like the whole idea of buying flowers and candy and stuff for Valentine's Day; he thinks it's just a way for Hallmark to make a lot of money (which is the way most guys feel, I think). But he never fails to get our Mom a big bouquet of her favorite, carnations.

We had our Mom's side of the family over to celebrate Mom's and Amy's birthdays. We had heart-shaped sugar cookies with pink icing and melted chocolate drizzled on them, fishy crackers, dark chocolate kisses, and cupcakes that Amy and I decorated.

Amy used the melted chocolate to decorate the cupcakes, too. Aren't they precious?

Update on the Guntzel Girls

A lot of people have been asking what we are all up to these days, so I thought I'd give a little update. Katie is busy with school, playing Nerts (a card game she has recently learned), watching hockey, going to youth group, and playing with the twins. Amy is taking classes as Northwest Tech School for young childhood education and has recently started doing her lab hours in a kindergarten class, which she loves. She is also busy with practice and lessons for Freedom's Call, playing with the twins, youth group, and has just finished reading her favorite book series, the Brio Girls, for the third time, so now she should be able to concentrate on her homework again. :-). I (Julie) am a little bit harder to wrap into a nutshell. I am still working at Kal's, but not very much, because it's pretty slow there, and they don't need to be paying me to sit around and browse recipes on the Internet. So I go in a couple hours a week to clean. As you could probably guess, I am also busy playing with the twins--a true delight. I have also been doing some independent studying in German and Russian. It's much more challenging to do it on my own, but I am getting a lot out of it. One thing I love is that through studying a language, it's like you can get a glimpse into the culture and the people, and it's like God is giving me a little peak at the love He has for them. I also am a leader for the 4th grade girls at Awana at our church, which can be both challenging and rewarding. I spend a lot of time cooking and baking and thinking of every way I can to change a recipe. My family always laughs at me when they ask me what something is. My answer is usually, "Well, the recipe said to use this, but I used..." Sometimes it's because we don't have a certain ingredient, so I make a little substitution, but mostly it's because I just love coming up with ways to change things up. Other than trying to stay warm (which for me is often only accomplished by 3 or 4 layers of clothes--inside), that's about what we've been up to. Sometimes, I think life would get very boring and mundane, I mean, let's face it, I'm not living a overly thrilling lifestyle, but then just when I am tempted to become discontent, God fills me with the assurance of His promise that He is what makes my life worthwhile. I could never hope for a better purpose!

Christmas on New Year's Eve

Taylor coming in from sledding outside. Sam got a two week leave from the army. He has changed so much since he left in September. He is so confident, respectful (not that he wasn't before, but even more so), and talkative. He talked so much the first couple days he was home that he was really hoarse. We all loved listening to him tell about his life the past couple months. He is such a hardworker, and so dedicated. Everytime I sit down to write him a letter or lift him up in prayer, I am absolutely amazed and inspired. Thanks for being such a great cousin, Sam!

I (Julie) made a peppermint cheesecake for the night. I melted semisweet baking chocolate and drizzled it on top, then I mixed Cool Whip with hot chocolate mix and piped it on the top. Since I had leftover melted chocolate, I drizzled it on a piece of wax paper, and then when it dried, I broke it into little pieces, and stuck them in the Cool Whip. To top it off, I sprinkled candy cane pieces all over. I'm not a big cheesecake fan myself, but everyone else said it was edible. :-)

Our cousin Ross and his wife Brittany came up from Lake Charles, Louisiana. We hadn't seen them since their wedding in August.

Cousins Carson and Taylor sporting their festive hats.

L-R: Amy, Brittany, Julie, and Hannah. Brittany fits right in, doesn't she?

I'm not quite sure how we made it through the night without wasting away. :-). Not in this picture were the grilled chicken, the cheesecake, and all the pop you could want.

This year we celebrate Christmas on New Year's Eve with our mom's brother and sister and their families. We had so much fun! What a blessing it is to have a loving family that enjoys being together.

More fun with the twins!

Ella playing peek-a-boo by our dining room table. Kyle doing one of his favorite activities--eating and making a mess of it!

Ella loves it when we say "Oh, so pretty Ella!" She grins so big and then waits for us to say it again.

Kyle and Ella both love it when we talk on the phone. Our cordless phone looks a lot like a TV remote, and so when we brought out this broken remote for them to play with, they started talking on it like it was a telephone!

We continue to take care of Kyle and Ella 3 days a week. What a blessing they are! Kyle is the cuddle-bug, and he loves it when Amy sings K-k-k-kyle (the song "K-k-k-katie" with a few changes to the lyrics). Ella loves to play peek-a-boo and put on our fuzzy scarves. Her latest game is walking down the hallway, which has wood paneling in it, and pointing to the knots in the wood. Then we all say "Knot!" and she laughs and claps for us like she is so proud that we can do it. We all go through withdrawal on the days they are not here. After my decision not to go to college this year, I am amazed everyday at the blessings God has given me, and these two little munchkins are one of the best!

Tagged!

We've been tagged! Freedom's Call tagged us for this photo tag! The rules are simple:

*post the sixth picture from your sixth photo album *pray that you remember the details, then explain the picture *tag five other people by leaving a "You've been tagged!" comment on their blog, and ask them to look at the directions for the photo tag on your blog

Nanny (one of our favorite grandmothers ;-) is an excellent face painter! Above, three of our cousins (L. to R.: Emilee, Carson, and Logan) model some of her designs! Lookin' good, guys!

Okay, so now for our "Tagged Victims!" We pick Chris and Tasha, Franklin and Lorina, Josh and Laura, Chris and Linnea, and Corey and Ellie.

Can't wait to see your pictures! Have fun with this!

Malted Milk Ball Cookies

Well, Katelyn, I am not normally this slow at doing things, but I am finally putting my recipe for Malted Milk Ball Cookies up for you. I was very flattered that you asked for it...I'm glad you enjoyed them! Malted Milk Ball Cookies: 3/4 c butter, softened, 1 1/4 c packed brown sugar, 1 c sugar, 1 1/2 tsp baking soda, 1/2 tsp salt, 3 eggs, 1/4 c oil, 1 1/2 tsp vanilla, 3 1/2 c flour, 1 1/2 c whole bran cereal (I wasn't really sure what this meant-I used like rice chex, slightly crushed up), 3 c (12 oz.) malted milk balls, crushed, divided. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a 4-qt. mixing bowl, beat butter with electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add brown sugar, granulated sugar, baking soda, and salt. Beat until well combined, scraping sides of bowl occasionally. Beat in eggs, oil, and vanilla. Beat in as much of the flour as you can with the mixer. Stir in any remaining flour and the cereal. Reserve 1/2 cup of the crushed malted milk balls to sprinkle on top. Stir in remaining milk balls into the dough. Shape dough into 1 1/2" balls. Place balls 2" apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until golden. Place cookie sheet on wire rack. Immediately sprinkle tops of warm cookies with reserved crushed candies. Cool on cookie sheet for 2 minutes. Transfer to wire rack to cool completely. Makes about 60 cookies (no exaggeration-it makes a ton!) Enjoy!