Our church (The River Church Community) is participating in the Walk for Water, would you consider supporting ‪#‎TeamStahl‬ in raising money for a safe water community development project?

I was remiss in registering until recently, because this type of cause is quite dear to the hearts of me & Lesley after witnessing first hand during our time in Kenya not only that "Every day millions of women and children in developing countries walk nearly 4 miles to retrieve water to meet their family's daily needs," but that during dry seasons, it was longer distances and kept the children from attending school!

Many times, the water they (worldwide) can find is contaminated and makes them sick. I am excited because Water Missions International is changing lives, one community at a time, through their sustainable safe water solutions.

On March 21, I (and the kids in stroller) will be participating in the Silicon Valley Discipleship Walk for Water, where we will mimic the trek millions of people face on a daily basis just to get water that is necessary for their day-to-day activities. Each and every dollar raised by our Walk for Water is going to make an impact through a safe water community development project! Please consider making a donation to support this vision?

My goal for the March 21st Walk For Water is to carry 5 gallons for the 1.5 miles, in the same backpack I used in Kenya for our occasional grocery trips from the village to Mombasa. (The ~40lbs is roughly equivalent of a full "jerrycan")

Would you consider giving an easy $20, a stretch amount of $10 per gallon per mile ($75), anything in between, or more?

Donate to our team here: http://events.watermissions.org/goto/Team_Stahl

A poem, a prayer

This inspired me today.

The Long View:

It helps, now and then, to step back and take the long view.
The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts,
it is beyond our vision.
We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction
of the magnificent enterprise that is God’s work.

Nothing we do is complete,
which is another way of saying that
the kingdom always lies beyond us.

No statement says all that could be said.
No prayer fully expresses our faith.
No confession brings perfection.
No pastoral visit brings wholeness.
No program accomplishes the church’s mission.
No set of goals and objectives includes everything.

That is what we are about:
We plant seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise.
We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces effects beyond our capabilities.

We cannot do everything and
there is a sense of liberation in realizing that.
This enables us to do something, and to do it very well.
It may be incomplete,
but it is a beginning, a step along the way,
an opportunity for God’s grace to enter and do the rest.

We may never see the end results,
but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker.
We are workers, not master builders,
ministers, not messiahs.

We are prophets of a future not our own.

Amen.

Monseñor Oscar Romero

Chicago-Style Stuffed Pizza

A post dedicated to all my Northwestern friends – here’s how to get a Chicago-style stuffed pizza even when you live on the east or west coast!  Much thanks to Karen for teaching me how to make this. 

Sorry if it's confusing, the pictures are of two different pizzas that I was making at the same time (one spinach, one pepperoni). 

INGREDIENTS:

DOUGH:

-         1 tablespoon sugar

-         1 cup warm water

-         1 packet (1/4 oz.) yeast

-         3 cups flour (plus extra for kneading)

-         1 teaspoon salt

-         1/4 cup olive oil

TOPPINGS:

-         Veggies or meat of choice (I like ½ bag of fresh spinach or 1 packet of pepperoni)

-         8 oz. mozarrella cheese

-         pizza sauce (1 jar or equivalent homemade)

EQUIPMENT: 

-         mixing bowl

-         measuring cups and spoons

-         wooden spoon

-         place to roll out dough

-         rolling pin

-         pie pan or other deep round baking pan

STEP 0: If your house is cold or drafty, heat the oven to 200* F.  This is just to help the dough rise later, so if your house is warm and cozy there is no need for the oven to be on yet.

STEP 1: Make the dough

Dissolve sugar in water and add yeast packet. Let stand for 5 minutes and foam should form at the top. If no foam forms, discard and try again with new yeast. 

Put 3 cups of flour and salt in mixing bowl. Pour in water/yeast mixture and oil. Mix with wooden spoon for as much as you can and then mix with hands. 

Use flour on counter surface to knead dough. Knead until dough is thoroughly mixed and then for an extra minute, about 2-4 minutes total.

(I seriously don't know why picture is flipped.)

Coat dough ball in oil and place back into mixing bowl. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let dough rise on the counter in a warm room for 1 hour or until dough doubles in size. Or, put dough in fridge and let rise overnight or during the day (dough should still double in size. If not, let is rise a bit more out of the fridge in a warm room.)  If your house is cold, set bowl on top of warmed oven or set bowl on open oven door (turn off the oven if you choose this option – can’t have too much heat). 

STEP 2: Prep toppings

Grate the 8 ounces of cheese.  (Picture shows 16 ounces since I always make 2 pizzas at a time.)  Thaw frozen toppings or otherwise prepare them.  Do some dishes or relax a bit until the dough is ready. 

Now, preheat your oven to 400* F. 

STEP 3: Make first crust

When the dough has risen, break it into two sections (or three, if you are using a small pan like I do – the third section will be kept for a thin-crust pizza later).  

Roll one section out into a circular shape about 1/8^th inch thick (I roll it into I can’t get it any thinner without breaking.  Because you have two crusts, neither one needs to be very thick, trust me.)

Lay the dough over your baking pan and allow it to drop into the edges so it fits the pan.  Cut off excess dough but leave enough so it hangs over the edge slightly.  Don’t worry if it’s not gorgeous, this is homemade pizza!

Put the crust alone in the oven and bake for 5-10 minutes, until it is somewhat baked but not too hard.

STEP 4: Add “stuffing” (toppings)

This step is a matter of some debate in our house.  Do you add toppings first and then cheese, cheese then toppings, or cheese before AND after toppings?  Or should you mix them together?  I say this is up to the chef.  I add toppings first then cheese, only because I like to make pretty patterns with the pepperoni (the prettier the pattern the less likely sneaky hands are to steal a piece of pepperoni!!).  If you are using various chopped veggies like mushrooms and peppers and think it would be good to mix it all with the cheese.

 

Put the toppings on your par-baked crust. 

STEP 5: Add second crust

Roll out your second section of dough the same size as the first (although you will have more to cut off, you want this one to be the same thickness or maybe even thinner).  Place this dough over the toppings and pinch the edges over and into the par-baked bottom crust. 

You may need to push down on the upper crust (yes, it’s clearly the better crust) to flatten your toppings a bit.  The photo shows some spinach poking through – not a big deal.

Poke a few holes to let steam escape.  Bake for 10 minutes.

STEP 6: Add sauce

Once the top crust is browned, pour sauce on top.  If you used fresh spinach you may need to press down on the crust before adding sauce to give yourself a little room, but the sauce always ends up fitting.

Now you can refrigerate your pizza and serve later or do the final baking right away. 

Before eating, put back in the oven (400* F) for about 15 minutes or until sauce is hot and cheese is melted.  Happy eating!

Wrap leftover dough and store in fridge or freezer.  BE FOREWARNED – if you put it in the fridge it will CONTINUE TO RISE, so don’t put it in a tight ziploc (I learned the hard way).  

This is how big baby is today

14 weeks - actual size of a lemon

This kid is already making me exhausted, so he/she better be growing big and strong!

Fall Festivities

We've had a fun fall in CA - really enjoying the fact that we have extended family in the bay area and that a trip down to so cal is not too hard to manage.  Here are some photos from our latest adventures:

We went down to Irvine for a weekend in October and got to see my brother perform with the marching band.  He's been doing it for four years but this was the first time I got to see him!

It was homecoming, so they made "IHS" - Gordy's in there somewhere!  Happy senior year, Gordo!

My mom and I went to a baby shower for Meredith (middle).  Mer, Katie and I were all babies together in the IPC nursery about 26 years ago!

Meredith with some of her loot :-)

While in Irvine we also went to a big suprise party for Katie's mom, but I sadly don't have any pictures of the Beatles cover band, gorgeous view, or crazy dancing. 

We took a trip to Sacramento to visit my cousins and spent a rainy day at soccer games and the pumpkin patch.  They're awesome kids!!  (Holly even scored a goal, but I don't have a pic of that.)

After church on Sunday we discovered the local donut shop was closed so I showed them how to make "boko dogo" (short for "kiboko kidogo," one of my made-up Kenyan recipes.  It means "little hippo" since the fried dough looks like hippos floating in the oil.)

Then I found out I was pregnant. 

(sorry if that's an awkward picture, it's all I have for now!)

For Halloween, we dressed up Alphie.  He didn't seem to mind until he began chasing a squirrel and jumped right out of the shirt collar.

Lauren and her boyfriend Ryan came over to carve pumpkins.  (Note the World Series in the background - YAY GIANTS!!)

We took 100 of my students to the Harry Potter premier, and we even dressed up, can't you tell??   We're James and Lily Potter.  See inspiration here.

Lauren came, too, and since she's my sister, that makes her Aunt Petunia.

For Thanksgiving we went to the Sacramento area to visit Chris's grandparents and uncle and went for a hike by the American river.

In early December we went down to Santa Cruz for a relative's Christmas party, and decided to stop by the lighted boat show first.

Those were fire-breathing dragons!  By far the coolest boat.

Ok, that's all for now, since that brings us up to about last week.  Clearly I need to update the blog more often!  Stay tuned for more info and pictures about that whole "I got pregnant" part! ;-)