Day Camp Committee Meeting – Crosstalk Ministries Day Camps

This past week started off with a busy Monday preparing for our monthly Day Camp committee Meeting. Happily all 7 members were free to attend, which, in the winter is quite an achievement!

As we gathered we shared bowls of Butternut Squash and Bacon Soup with Angel Biscuits and then Amish Apple Cake for dessert with Hot Lemonade to sip on.

Josiah opened our meeting with a devotion and soon we were deep in discussion of Day Camps 2017. As is usually the case, I came out of the meeting with a long list of people with whom I need to make contact and, my goodness!!, there has been a lot of communication throughout the rest of the week.

In speaking with our contacts in the Western Provinces it seems there is a high probability we will need to send an unprecedented FOUR Teams out there. Given that both the Montreal and Toronto Region Schedule is also fast filling up, it seems that we will not be able to extend ourselves to the Maritimes this year. Our committee is unanimous in feeling that small good quality programming and Teams is way better than overstretching that brings with it a host of problems.
We need to face the reality of being a very small ministry with limited resources, especially in terms of the many volunteers who give their time to help build our Program and Train up our Teams. I am in total agreement that “small” is better. If we are to follow our motto of “Helping People of all Ages Become Strong Disciples of Jesus Christ” then we need to be focused on doing it to the very best of our ability, quality before quantity!!

There is also the added possibility of reaching out with a special Team to Germany so our plate will be very full. The committee also spoke about Team Members and I am overjoyed to hear that a number of last summer’s “newbies” do plan to come back, a couple of them even bringing along younger siblings or cousins! YAY!! Now all we have to do is get them to APPLY!!!

If we need to consider names for four western Teams that means we need to do it as early in the spring as possible, since airline tickets must be booked by our host communities and we always want to give them as much lead time as possible to find low cost flights.

I guess I’m pretty pumped after reaching out to so many contacts in the last few days, but my excitement is of course tinged with a healthy dose of fear, thinking of the vast amount of work that will need to take place between now and June!! It is a good thing we have a strong network of Prayer Partners behind the scenes 😊.

Yes there has been time for a few other bits and pieces. A dinner visit on Thursday with Natalie and Andrew and lunch yesterday with my favourite “minion”-Jillian. Then last evening ,just as I was about to sit down to dinner ,there was a knock at the door and who should it be but our family friend Brian, with my DOORKNOB, almost 2 years to the day since it first fell off, it has been returned. To make a long story short, it is VERY hard to find parts for 110 year old brass door knobs and Brian has had to follow all sorts of dead ends to find the pieces required to put it together again. He spent about half an hour kneeling by the door screwing various parts together and I’m so excited now it is back in place!!

This morning I’m waiting for Jenna to pass by
for a short visit as I’ve been altering some clothes for her and they are ready for pick-up.

During the week I finished knitting a wool and silk cowl as a birthday gift for a special friend, I also agreed to knit a pair of fiendishly complicated Icelandic Socks for someone else (EEK!) and sewed a couple of gift bags.

Oh yes, there the also “Horse Story” book (mentioned last week), which ended up being a lot more complicated than first expected 😊.

This afternoon will be Baking and Blogging
because refreshments need to be made for tomorrow’s SYC Staff Meeting plus dinner for the Huyers afterwards. I haven’t seen my Ottawa Godsons since Thanksgiving so I’m super excited they will all be here!!

Instead of a solitary “podcast” Church time, Natalie has asked if she and Andrew could join me, and we will share a discussion together after we listen in, I’m glad they want to come!….

It is now late afternoon. Jenna and I had a good visit over coffee and Stöllen, and the oven is just about to be switched on so I can bake Chinese Almond cookies, Almond shortbread, 3 Whole Wheat Loaves and finally a mushroom pizza for dinner. But before I head back to the kitchen I thought I would share the Chilli recipe I made on Thursday. Millet is a super grain and well worth using in lots of dishes. Here goes-

Vegetarian Millet Chilli

1 pound kidney beans, soaked overnight in
cold water
2 medium onions, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 fresh Jalapeno pepper, minced
! Tbsp. each Chilli powder and Turmeric
2 tsps. Dried oregano
1 large green pepper, diced
1 28oz. can tomatoes
1 cup tomato sauce
1 cup millet, rinsed and drained
6 cups water

Toppings: –

Greek yoghurt
Sliced scallions
Orange sections

Heat the olive oil in a large soup pot and sauté the onions, green pepper, jalapeno pepper and garlic, for 10 minutes until softened. Add the drained kidney beans, canned tomatoes, tomato sauce, spices and 4 cups of water. Bring to the boil and simmer partially covered for 90 minutes. Stir in the millet and additional 2 cups of water and continue to simmer gently for 2 hours, stirring from time to time to make sure the millet does not stick to the bottom of the pot. Add up to 2 more cups of water if needed. The chilli should be thick and dark when ready. Serve with toppings and blue corn chips.
Serves 10-12 and freezes well.