First Donation

A wonderful couple from Spokane Washington has donated ten quilts.They made them and they are beautiful. I took them Saturday to show off to the women in our women's group and everybody was blown away.

As each girl enters the home they will be given a quilt so we will need plenty of them. We have our first ten and it will be so thrilling to give these as gifts to the girls and if they leave they can take the quilt with them.

We hope it will be a reminder of the love they felt and received in Nana's House.
I'm very excited about these quilts!

Our Web Page is up. It still needs a lot of work but it is functioning.
nannashome.com

Blessings,
Mary Jo

NANA'S HOUSE

I am so sorry for abandoning this blog. We have been busy but good things are happening.

Above is a picture of the house we will be using for the Girls Home. This really is a miracle House. A missionary couple built this house a year ago and called it House of Miracles. It was Maya's dream home but God called them onto to plant an extension of our ministry near Puerto Vallarta. Keith and Maya made the sacrifice and now we will be renting the home for Nana's house.
It is a lovely home with parks and safe streets all around.
We now have to furnish it!
Part of me abandoning this blog was due to starting a web site for Nana's Home. It is almost done and I will pass that info onto to you in a few days.
We open in July so there is a lot of fund raising and work to get done.

Thank God for Fat Quarters and Books.

There are two places in the world that I can lose myself in, a book store or a fabric store.
When I was a little girl my Grandma would take me every year to a place in San Francisco called the City of Paris. The city of Paris was a huge department store that had a gigantic Christmas Tree right in the middle of the Store, it was thrilling to me to see this tree. My sister and I were allowed to go and pick out whatever we wanted for Christmas. The store had a large book selection and I remember running right to the books and spending what seemed like hours trying to pick out one book. They would have to drag me out of there and I can remember my older sister getting upset with me and telling me to hurry up! I can still remember the first book I ever got there, it was called, The Three Spies.
I was not the happiest little girl but when I was with my grandma and grandpa I felt like a thousand bucks. I also learned to fall into books and I think I lived in a fantasy during all my school years.
Books helped me survive a terrible school experience and great feelings of inferiority. The ironic thing is that I had a terrible case of dyslexia but I loved to read.
Books and fabric make me happy and I'm hoping to pass that onto the girls when we open Nana's House.
I picture a reading area with a lot of comfy pillows, quilts and lots of books..

I also dream of being a person like my grandma and grandpa were to me. They were such an encouragement and I knew they loved me just the way I was with all my quirks and faults. They really did make me feel important and protected like every child should feel.

We are praying for the girls that will be coming to Nana's House. We are praying that it will be a safe haven for some hurting children, a place filled with wonderful childhood experiences.

A Blanket Is Forever.

Every child should have a special blanket. A quilt or a soft throw blanket is so comforting and can last a life time.

I don't sew that well but I love to make quilts and throw blankets. I have done this for years and love to give them as gifts. When my children were sick or feeling down I loved to make sure they had that perfect soft blanket or quilt to be comforted by and kept warm.

I want to give every girl that comes to Nana's House their own personalized blanket. Some girls will only be with us until their mother or father get out of prison or can get back on their feet and support a family again. I want them to be able to take their special blanket with them when they leave. Other girls will be with us until they are adopted or turn eighteen. I think a special quilt or throw blanket would be a great thing to send them off with as a good memory. A blanket is warm, cozy and full of love just like I'm hoping the memory of their stay will be.

If you would like to make a blanket you can contact me at:
maryjohansen2@yahoo.com

Some of you like emailing me better than leaving comments.
I love comments though : )

It has been a very busy almost overwhelming time. We have been meeting with government officials which can be quite intimidating to me. They kept putting new requirements on us and that was difficult but I'm so happy because we are done. Nana's house is a legal organization and we will actually be working hand in hand with the government.
They are thrilled and we are too.

I have to make a list of everything we need to furnish a house. I'm heading over to chfweb.com to have those ladies help me out with the list as soon as I get time.
I would like to start with the bedrooms and kitchen. I know it sounds simple to make a list but one of our main supporters asked me for the list so I want to make sure I don't forget anything.

Today I have to drive to Puerto Vallarta to get my husband from the airport. I love the drive but it is dangerous so if you think of me pray for safety. It's not that the road is so bad, it's that there are a ton of curves and CRAZY DRIVERS. They pass on curves and driving in Mexico can be quite interesting.

This month is really busy. We have a camp coming up with over 200 youth and I'm one of the cooks. We also have some teams coming in from the States.

I promise to post something of interest in the next few days.
These blogs can seem kind of lonely but I keep getting emails from people who tell me they are reading it so I will continue on here when things settle down.

Blessings,
Mary Jo

WE HAVE A HOUSE!

We have a very nice home being offered to us for the girls home. It is in a great neighborhood with several parks and areas where the girls can ride bikes and be safe while doing it. This is very unusual since a lot of Tepic neighborhoods either have heavy traffic or dirt roads.

We have a lot of church outreach teams coming down this summer. We will have a lot of work for them in building bunk beds and painting rooms.

I will post a picture of the house soon.

MAD WORSHIP

I love blunt, honest people. Yes, I love them until their bluntness hurts my feelings.

Today I was the worship leader in our morning service. I love this job and really it is the highlight of my week. I love organizing the music, working with the singers and leading people in song.

There is something very vulnerable about leading music in a church service. As a singer I'm dependent on musicians and sound guys hoping everything blends into something people can follow and understand.

We do two services and after the first service my blunt friend had a few constructive criticisms about the way I was doing things. The first one was fine but when he brought up three, my feeling were hurt.

I should be happy and encouraging as a leader but today I was mad! I was standing up in front of hundreds of people trying to encourage them to participate in worship and at the same time trying to fix my own attitude.

Thoughts were running through my head like,

"I would like to see him get up here and do this"

" He wouldn't be able to handle any criticism"

" How dare he say those things" , blah, blah, blah!

I went home after service and pouted! I pouted until I really thought about what my friend had said. To be honest he was right about two of the things and on the third he was kind of being a musical knit whit so why was I was worrying about any of it?
I can be blunt too!

Sometimes a moment like that can become a really big deal and get blown way out of
proportion in my mind. A fear sets in and that can cause a kind of mental torment.

That fear kept me bound for so many years and I have no room to live like that anymore

The most freeing thing I ever did in my life was deciding not to be bound by what others thought of me. I want to walk in love and love is not insecure.


Being free from fear is where I want to be for the rest of my life.
My friend meant no harm and to be honest his direct honesty is the best thing about him. I certainly would not want him to change that because of a silly insecurity.

"There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear"

The Proper Way To Weigh Yourself

Losing weight, yuck who wants to even think about that?
It has to be the hottest topic in the United States and that is above immigration, the elections and sex!

People are obsessed with weight but fatter than ever.
I was fat most of my life. I was not huge but just enough overweight to make me a traumatized child, adolescent and adult woman. I was just always pushing the edge of chubby and hated myself for it.

I remember right before high school I decided to lose weight. I went on a starvation diet and that was the beginning of a huge ordeal with an eating disorder for the next twenty years.
I lost about twenty pounds and was running about 5 miles a day and I was feeling pretty hot.

I went to a camp with my girlfriend Karen Christensen and met a boy that I was crazy about. My best friend Karen decided she would try to help me out by letting the cat out of the bag and spreading the rumor that Mary Jo liked Jeff. Jeff sent a quick message back that I was too chubby for him.

I was beyond devastated, hid in my cabin with the lights out playing sick so I could cry all night long. I was sure I was the most unattractive girl that God had ever made and quickly spiraled downhill into a depression and a horrible case of binging and purging.

This lasted all through high school into my early twenties. I never felt worthy and knew my weight was the reason for all my despair in life. If only I could lose weight I knew happiness would come my way and my prince would come riding on a shiny white horse to save me from all my sadness and loneliness.

When I was twenty I gave my heart to the Lord and my life radically changed but there were two things in my life that did not change. I was a chain smoker and still struggled with bulimia.

I went into a missionary training school when I was 22 and I had to give up smoking simply because it was not allowed but my eating disorder was still lurking around.
Living at the missionary base was a good time in my life. It brought a lot of structure and the structure brought peace and things began to change.

Then I met my best friend Dwight and fell in love. We got married and life was better than it had ever been but still my eating was out of order.

For many years it was just up and down and God did touch me and heal my bulimia but things were just not a 100%. I still felt inadequate, chubby and not good enough. I always had a hard time believing I was attractive enough for my husband even though we have a great marriage. This thing still plagued me causing me to be insecure.
Last year I decided I was done with worrying so much about what I looked like. I asked God to fill me with peace and security and even began to take risks in the way I dressed and have fun.

I decided I was not going to run to food for comfort and I wanted this thing broken in my life for good.
I decided to eat way less. I knew a diet would not work for me so I just ate what I wanted to but ate half.

I used a smaller plate, I let myself feel hungry at times and started doing exercise. I not only could not do a diet I had to do fun exercise. I danced and I walked and tried to do things I enjoy.

This worked for me! I lost about 35 pounds and feel way better. I wish I could say all my insecurities flew out the window but they didn’t and that is Ok. God can even use our little inadequacies in life and he can also take them away when we are willing to let them go.
I can say that God has given me a new peace that surpasses all understanding and I’m just having fun not having to run to food for comfort. Losing weight has been good and since I have the love of my life who loves me through thick and thin I do not have to worry about a Jeff telling me I’m just a little too chubby.
Mary Jo

THE HEART OF MEXICAN MUSIC

Aida Cuevas

She's it! This is true Mexican music at it's best.
Her deep, natural voice is awesome.
Listen to the little screams in the background Ayyyyyiiiii, the horns and the thump of the base and the whistles, it's all so Mexico.

Really this is great! Give it a try.

I took this picture today and although I love Chili Rellenos I do not make them often. Today I made several and they don't always look like that. They are usually covered a little nicer and prettier.
I had to take the picture quick because several people were standing around wanting to munch it down and I knew it was going to disappear fast.

Ingredients:

12 Pablano or Anaheim chilies, roasted* (directions see below)
2 cups Mozzarella or other stringy melting cheese, grated
4 eggs separated, Beat the egg whites until stiff and then add the yolk.
2 cups all purpose flour
salt, chili powder, and black pepper to taste
Oil of your choice. I used Canola.

Directions:

Roast the peppers, remove stems and seeds, clean, pat dry and set aside. Beat egg whites until stiff and then add the yolks. Then gently stuff the chilies as full of the cheese mixture as possible without tearing them. Set aside. Mix the flour and any seasonings you want to add together and put on a plate. In a heavy skillet, heat about 1/4 inch of oil to frying temperature. Gently dip a chili in the egg and then roll it in the flour mixture. Then gently transfer that to the hot oil. Fry on both sides until golden brown. Repeat until all the chilies are fried.

*Roasting Chiles: Oven roasting: Simply put the chilies on a baking sheet in the oven at about 400 and leave until the skins are blistered. Then remove the blistered skins under cold running water. Although this is the easiest way it is not the best way. First, it doesn't develop quite as much flavor as flame roasting does. Second, you are not just blistering the skins, the chilies are also being cooked. Now this is fine for any dish where you don't mind if the chilies are soft textured.

Flame or direct heat roasting: For this method you may use a BBQ or your stove top burner, and yes, you can do it on an electric burner as well as a gas one. For whatever heat source you use you simply lay the chilies directly over the heat and with a pair of kitchen tongues, turn them frequently to ensure that the skins blister evenly. As soon as you remove the chili from the heat wrap it in a cloth or put it in a brown paper bag and let it steam for about 3 to 4 minutes before removing the skin under cold running water.

Be sure however, not to roast more chilies at any one time than you can peel before they become completely cold. Once they are cold the skin is very hard to remove. Also, do not worry about getting every smidgen of the charred skin off. A bit of the char is what gives the characteristic roasted chili flavor. Chilies that are roasted in this manner still have a good texture.

When choosing chilies or peppers for roasting, choose ones that have the fewest convolutions to their surface. If they are too twisted and bumpy it is difficult to get the skins to blister evenly.

You can add ground beef, chicken, or even tuna to the stuffing if you so desire.

Also these Chili's are usually mild and not super hot so do not be afraid to try the recipe.

Mexican Women Are Beautiful,

About twenty years ago my husband and I were working on church planting way up high in the mountains of Sinaloa Mexico.

I remember that town very well because it was very picturesque and beautiful.

I was just learning Spanish and I would spend the afternoons visiting different ladies so I could practice speaking Spanish. We had a very friendly neighbor lady about my age and I remember thinking how naturally beautiful she was. One day we were talking and for some reason I said something about Whitney Houston being a beautiful woman.

My neighbor had no idea who Whitney Houston was so I explained to her that she was a famous black singer who was quite pretty.

My friend looked at me confused and declared that dark skinned people were never pretty. She was very dark skinned herself and I let her know that some of the most beautiful women in the world were dark skinned and many of them had won beauty contests. I also informed her that I thought she was very beautiful.

She could not comprehend that I thought she was a pretty lady.

Throughout all my years of living here in Mexico I have had people tell me that I was beautiful. When this first started happening I thought these people were crazy until I realized they were just impressed with my blue eyes and lighter skin.

Now after being here so many years even I stop to look at blue eyes and blond hair!

A lot of Mexican women automatically disqualify themselves as pretty simply because they are not blond with blue eyes.

Well, I have news for all these Mexican women, you are beautiful …

Mexican women are so feminine and take great care of them selves. I love all the details with the earrings, hair, makeup, necklaces and bracelets.

Here are some random pictures of some young ladies in my church just because I wanted to show off how pretty they all are!

COMMENTS

Hi There,

this is just a note to let you all know I changed the settings on the comments.

I guess I had it set wrong and some people could not leave comments.

It should be fixed now.

Mary Jo.

This is a picture of our Girls Home Staff. (I'm in the middle, Cynthia and Nile to the right are a married couple that will be the overseeing pastor's of the home and Mary and Erika will be full time staff living in the house..)

We are the core group that will be responsible for the home and accountable for the girls.

We are in the process of meeting with government officials and everything is going great so far. The Children’s Protective services are very impressed with how willing we have been to be open and upfront about what we are doing. They have dealt with a lot of dishonest people.

A lot of doors have opened up for us and several donations have come our way too.

Several people have asked how they can help and if you sew and would like to make a blanket or an easy quilt that would be great. We are trying to gather up all the bedding right now. We will need sheets, pillow cases and all that is needed for a bedroom.

I have an idea of giving each girl her own pretty quilt or blanket that they can take with them if they have the need to leave the Girls home for some reason.

Also we will try to give each girl a toy that is their own personal toy. I loved dolls and stuffed animals when I was a child so I want to have plenty of those around.

If you would like to send a blanket, toy, or even a set of sheets, that would be a blessing. I thought it would be good to start out with some easy things that people could send through the mail.

We will have teams here all summer and they will be working on making bunk beds and bedroom furniture for us to open in September.

You can email me at maryjohansen2@yahoo.com and then I will send you the address.

LATIN MUSIC

I love music. You could almost say I’m a fanatic about the things I like.

To be honest I was never that crazy over Latin Music until recently and

like all things that I like I am now a Latin Music fanatic.

My education has only just begun because the more I get into

it the more I uncover and enjoy.

Mana, is a very popular Latin Rock band that has been around since the early 90’s.

( There should be an accent on the last a. That and the youtube clip gave me a bunch of trouble)

Most of them are from Guadalajara about two hours south of here. They wrote a famous song about San Blas. San Blas is a beautiful beach town about thirty minutes from here.

They have won three Grammy’s and five Latin American music awards.

The thing I love most about them is the quality of their music. They are excellent musicians.

I also love the Latin feel and expression to their music. Latinos are so expressive and I have come to love that about this culture.

I am crazy over the congas and all the percussion in their music.

The song I attached is called Bendita Tu Luz.

Enjoy

Enchiladas

Chicken Enchiladas. ( That is a pictures of Enchiladas I made today)

I’m going to try to give some kind of measurements but I just throw a chicken on to boil and from there it’s all an invention.

One whole skinned chicken.

1 whole onion

3 cloves of garlic.

Salt

Chili powder

5 small tomato’s.

3 to 4 cups of White Cheddar Cheese, Monterey Jack or whatever cheeses you prefer

Cumin powder (only if you like it sometimes I’m not in the mood for it)

Thick Cream. I prefer not to use Sour Cream because the flavor is so overwhelming.

20 Tortillas, more or less. (You can use Flour or corn)

Boil skinned chicken with onion, garlic and salt. I just throw the whole onion in and then take it out at the end. Boil the chicken until the meat is almost falling off the bone.

Take the chicken out let it cool and then debone it. Shred the chicken up and set it aside.

Put the tomatoes, cooked onion, and cooked garlic into a blender and blend them up. You can add a little chicken broth if you need to. Throw the blended mixture into the chicken broth and then add the cream.

You can add a little cumin powder and knorr suiza to the broth. Sometimes I buy a very small can of pickled jalepenos called, escabeche. I just add the juice but not all of it. Add a little and taste it.

From here you need to thicken the sauce. You can take some of the sauce out of the pot let it cool a little and add flour and some milk and then add that back into the broth. Let it come to a boil while stirring it so it does not stick to the bottom and it should thicken up.

Add about 2 cups of the thick chicken broth to the shredded chicken.

Take one tortilla at a time and dip it into the creamy sauce and then add the chicken and roll the tortilla closing both ends. Set them in a casserole pan. Pour the sauce over all the rolled tortillas filled to the rim of the casserole pan and them sprinkle an abundance of cheese all over the top.

Put them in the oven on a high heat for about 30 minutes and DONE!

Nana's House

Years ago when my family and I lived in another city I volunteered at several different orphanages. I received so much satisfaction helping out with the children and organizing events for them. Though I have to say, the sadness which enveloped those places was stifling to say the least, and always tugged at my heart. I know it seems obvious that an orphanage would be a place that lacks a certain “happy” quality but it was much more than just that. The children were often dirty. There were no toys in sight. Each place was very much like an institution instead of a home. The organizations did provide shelter for several kids, but that just wasn’t enough for me.

One year I organized a huge Christmas Party for one of the orphanages I’d had the opportunity to visit. Part of the planning included the giving of gifts to all the children. It was so important to me that each child felt as though their gift was hand picked just for them. So, each child was given a different gift…their very own special token of love. The day after the celebration I visited again and there was not a toy in sight. When I asked the children where all the toys were they sadly explained to me that the leaders had taken them away and locked them all up. Apparently it was explained to the kids that they would just end up destroying the toys by fighting over them and whatnot so the solution was to sell the toys for profit. I couldn’t believe my ears! My heart was torn to pieces.

Moments like that have never left my memory, and they never will. The time that I spent visiting orphanages caused a yearning in me to start my own someday. The realization that there are many children in our world without a family to call their own is more than heart breaking…it’s unacceptable. My husband and I adopted two of our children. We have also been foster parents to several children who needed a loving home. I suppose my desire to make a difference started long ago. Most of our children are nearly grown ups now and all are developing into beautiful individuals, and without a doubt it’s because of the home life they’ve been provided throughout the years. I truly believe every single child in the world deserves the same opportunities as my own children have been privy to.

Awhile back my husband and I were talking with our Pastor about our desire to create an orphanage. When he told us that his wife, too, was feeling like it was time to start something here in Tepic I instantly got a rush of excitement. God had created the opportunity right before my eyes, and I knew in my spirit the time had finally come.

I am elated to tell you all that we are opening Casa De Nana in September, a home for girls from two years old and up. We all agree it’s imperative to make sure these girls live in a home, not just a building…not just another institution, but a house they can call their own. There will of course be communal items such as books and cd players in which they can all enjoy but we also want each girl to have her own belongings; diaries, toys, clothes…whatever is necessary to ensure that each girl takes pride in her own identity while integrating into the family that God has created for her to be a valuable part of.

Many of these girls will have extreme emotional trauma and will need dedicated people to love and support them during their healing process. We have several trained staff members that have committed to work at the home full time in order to aid in that process. Our intention is to provide an environment that encourages the girls to become confident and active in the world around them. We want to teach the girls life skills. We want to make sure they get a great education. But more than that, we want to be able to provide extra opportunities for their enjoyment such as dance lessons or music lessons etc.

As stated before, it’s so important to the founders of Nana’s House that the girls who live there feel like they are living in a family dwelling and NOT in an “orphanage.” So, with that in mind we have decided we will start with no more than 10 girls.

There is a lot of need for places like this here in Tepic. We often see children begging in the streets. Hardly a day goes by without a child or a family coming to my door in need of food. Our mission is to do what we can now and expand later. We hope to provide more homes throughout the area in order to help this community in the future.

This blog is going to be dedicated to updating you on Nana's House. To make it even more interesting I will include information about Mexico and its culture; food, fashion and music as well. I will also include information about our main church, La Fuente, and our mission churches too.

XOCHITL SOUP

(pronounced sochil)

That is a picture of Caldo de Xochitl I made today. A fair warning about me. I'm one of those cooks that never measures a thing. I just do everything to taste.

The thing I like about this soup is that you do not cook the vegetables. You cut them up and throw them all in right before you serve the soup. It's so fresh tasting ; it's my favorite!

Makes 8 cups, serving 6 to 8

3 quarts rich chicken broth. (I like to use one whole chicken and boil it until the meat falls off the bones. A little garlic, onion and salt is really all you need. You can make a stock with carrots and celery too but take them out so you just use the broth and chicken for the soup.)

1 large head of garlic, unpeeled

2 fresh jalapeño chiles, stemmed

1 medium white onion, cut into 1/4-inch dice

2 large ripe tomatoes, cored, seeded and cut into 1/4-inch dice

Salt, about 1 1/2 teaspoons depending on the saltiness of the broth

3/4 cup loosely packed chopped cilantro

About 1 cup coarsely shredded cooked chicken (optional)

2 ripe avocados, peeled, pitted and cut into 1/2-inch dice

2 peeled and diced up cucumbers

1 lime, cut into 6 to 8 wedges... Limes are set out in the table and people can just use them if they want to.

You can add a little rice to this if you want.

An important note! I often do not add the chilies. I enjoy this soup without them.

De bone the chicken, cut it up in small pieces and add it to the broth. Add the fresh uncooked veggies in each individual bowl.