Johanna Speaks

At our church, six of us play on the worship team. And recently, the lead singer/pianist and her husband are "retiring from playing." They said they wanted the younger generation to take over and to lead. Now, that means my brother Nicholas is in charge of the music, and his wife, Noemi, will help lead the singing. 😊 

We've also recruited another guy, Ian, to play bass. We've actually put the piano away for a bit. I'm not entirely sure why, since one of the violinists can play it. 

There's one acoustic guitarist, two electric guitarists, one singer, and two violinists. So far, it's been going pretty well. The Orrs (the pianist/singer and her husband, who plays the bass) said they could help us out once in a while and play if some of us are gone traveling on some Sundays. I'm really happy they said that because Nicholas and Noemi are gone right now in New Jersey, and I don't think we could do it with only a couple of us playing and nobody really leading. 

Anyway, it's been a challenge, but I know over time, it will become easier. I really enjoy playing violin, and sometimes I will play the mandolin. I'm still learning, but I know enough chords to play some of the songs. 

Here's a pic of the worship team:

Anyway, now I will. 

My brother Jonathan has been dating his girlfriend for about five years now and has been planning this engagement for two years. He planned a whole scavenger hunt for her. They went to Guatemala and some other places (not exactly sure where). But he proposed in Guatemala. 

Jonathan has been making an orrery, which is a replica of the solar system. It is pretty complicated and took a long time to make. He made it for Julia so she would have to put everything in place and figure out clues, and, originally, the ring would come out when she did figure everything out, but they decided not to do that part because it was too complicated. 

Here are some pictures I took of the orrery:

Jonathan made every little piece, making sure it fit just right. And in the end, it looked awesome! 

They will have their wedding sometime in September. 

Now on to my brother Gideon's engagement!

Gideon has been dating a girl named Elizabeth for about four weeks. Yes, I know, it was extremely fast! She lives in Boone, North Carolina, at the other end of the United States. They met at a Christian conference. 

He brought her to California five days ago to meet the family. Everybody loved her and her personality! 😊 She is really fun to be with and can't wait to have her as my next sister-in-law. We got to spend lots of time with them, and I found out she could play fiddle, guitar, mandolin, and piano. And probably more instruments. She actually played the fiddle and guitar for us while she was here. It was so nice! 

She is super sweet, and I think she and Gideon would be a really good pair together. 

Gideon proposed to her on their way back home. Like, when they got off the plane and went to a park. Both of them were extremely tired, but Gideon proposed in a beautiful park area as the sun was rising. Afterward, they went to a nearby restaurant for breakfast.

 They will be getting married in April in North Carolina. 

I've been getting into cleaning, and my parents recommended a book called "Clutter's Last Stand" by Don Aslett. It's about getting rid of junk and things you hold on to, you know, the saying, "Oh, one day it will come in handy, so I'd better keep it." At least, that's what I always say when I see something I never use, but knowing maybe one day I will have a use for it. So I keep it, and the junk keeps piling on. 

It talks about how to get rid of those things holding you down and finally let go of them, for a better, cleaner, and freer life. 

They have their own exam that you can take inside the book. Even though it's for adults who actually own houses and have kids, I took the exam for myself, just curious to see what I would score. There were 48 questions in total, and you could circle one of the three answers. Whatever answer you circle, there would be a number next to it. Either 1,2,3, or 5. So you would write the number down in a column, and you go through all the questions. Then add up all the numbers and write down your total. 

If you got 0-100 points, this is what it says you are:

A TERMINAL CASE...

Therapy or a massive transplant might help, but maybe you should just give up. 

If you got 100-150 points, this is what it says you are:

THE END IS NEAR...

You're in trouble. Read "Clutter's Last Stand" three times, gird your loins, and start de-junking ruthlessly. You might possibly survive your junk. 

If you got 150-175 points, this is what it says you are:

YOU'RE ON THE BRINK...

If you start to de-junk today, you can make it. Read "Clutter's Last Stand" and commit yourself to do it. 

If you got 175-225 points, this is what it says you are:

THERE IS HOPE...

If you can clean up/come to terms with those few problem areas, clutter won't have a chance to spread. 

If you got 225-240 points, this is what it says you are:

YOU ARE PURE...

Read "Clutter's Last Stand" to perfect yourself and then pass it on to a junkee friend or relative. 

So you can see that this book is sorta a comedy, but it can truly help you through a lot. Do you want to guess what I scored as? Well, I added up all my points and got a total of 183. So that puts me at the "THERE IS HOPE" spot. 

One thing I really like about this book, after reading the first chapter, is all the graphics. There are a lot of cartoon drawings inside. Showing how terrible it is as a family to keep all your junk and things you don't need. It keeps your attention and makes you want to read the book more. 

Ezra will be leaving today (Feb 16th) for France. He's going to visit my grandparents in Marseille, then visit some cousins of ours in Holland and some other places. (I forgot which exact places he's going to, other than France and Holland.)

He will be going alone and will be away for about a month. 

We have cousins in Holland that he's never met, so it will be pretty exciting for him. I think one of the cousins is his age too, so they will probably have a lot of fun together. And when I say cousins, I mean cousins once or twice removed on my mom's side. We have three cousins in total from our parents' siblings. 

His flight today is at 6:30 PM at the Redding Airport. Which is nice, so we don't have to drive all the way down to the Sacramento airport like we did when I went to France. 

So he'll have to fly through the night, with a 6:30 PM flight from Redding, arriving at his destination about eighteen hours or so later. It sounds pretty tiring to me. I remember going from Denver, Colorado, to Munich, Germany, and it was a ten-hour flight. I hated that so much. Having to sit for ten hours straight. Other than that, the rest of the flights were fine, only being two hours or four hours max. 

I think he will be coming back sometime in mid-March. He's very excited to go and can't wait to see his cousins and grandparents. 

Last week I made meringues for our church's potluck. It was a Valentine's Day theme, so I wanted to make something pink and sweet. So I chose meringues. I've made them a couple of times before, and they've always turned out pretty good. 

The process of making them:

First, I cracked the eggs and separated the yolks from the whites into separate bowls. I used about eight eggs. I then put the whites into a mixing bowl, added some lemon juice, and turned on the machine to whip them. 

I measured out how much sugar I needed and began adding it slowly. I always have a problem with that; I add it too fast, and the sugar doesn't dissolve quickly enough, so I end up with this silky but grainy meringue. It tastes fine after baking, so I don't really have to worry too much. But I always have a problem with that every time I make them. 

After adding the sugar and beating for a few more minutes, it reached soft peaks. I added a few drops of red food coloring and beat it for a few more seconds until fully incorporated. 

I turned the oven to 200°F, got out a piping bag, filled it, and started making cute little meringue swirls on the pans. When the oven was preheated, I put them in and set a timer for two hours (yes, they take extra long to bake). Once they were done, I turned the oven off and let them rest in there for about fifteen minutes. Then took them out and let them cool for longer.

I got out a big container, started putting them in, and got it ready for the next day's potluck. I tasted a couple, and they were kinda addictive. I love the weird texture they have. Almost like chalk, but edible. That's why I love them. Just taste like edible sweet chalk. 😁 They're so easy to make, and only a few ingredients are needed.