Nepali Lunch in the Country House!

When Misty was in Nepal, she had enjoyed our meal so I thought I would make some for her parents to taste. I decided to make two of Misty's favorite veggies- simi and cauli (green beans and cauliflower). I made some dal (lentils) and Sandy made some rice for me. I was getting nervous while I was cooking. I was afraid they wouldn't like it. I knew Sandy is a cook and she would be particular about  what she is eating. I kept asking Misty if there was something else that they could eat if they didn't like my food! But fortunately they liked their meal. It made me very happy! we went out for supper and Sandy had some green beans and told me that the green beans I made were so much better than what they served in the restaurant! I considered myself successful then!

A trip to Illinois state fair!

Craig and Sandy took us Shopping the rest of the day yesterday and showed me around the town. We went by the Mississippi River and drove parallel to it for a while. I thought it was a beautiful view!

In the evening we went to have supper with Zach's family. They are such wonderful people and so much fun to be around. Melinda showed me around their house and Zach took me on a tractor ride! I met their dog "April" and fell in love with her!! She reminds me of my Labrador at home. When she doesn't have anything to do she runs to the field, grabs a comb of corn, brings it to their yard and eats them!!

The day started early for us today as we left for the Illinois State Fair. We saw some huge cows and beautiful horses. One of the horses we saw was very very good looking and we stopped by and talked to her owner. She had won a second and a fourth prize in a horse show. He told us there were some horse shows going on at the moment so we went to see one. It was my first horse show ever and I enjoyed it so much! We also went to a horse race whose wining amount was $45,000!!!

The best part of the day was however getting on those crazy rides with Misty! We didnt go on a lot of them but the few that we rode were very thrilling!

Praying for rain or praying for no rain?

It hasn't rained in LaGrange for a long time now. Majority of the people here farm and they have not had a good year. Even with zero knowledge about farming I can tell that the crops are not the best. The corn plants are not the right size and right color because they are not getting enough water. Craig told me how much they have been praying for water.

As much as we wanted it to rain, Misty and I had been praying for it to not rain yesterday! We had our camp out planned and the weather forecast was a negative for our planning. Brian and Sarah arrived and it started to rain early afternoon. We stayed in and baked some cake. Misty taught us how to decorate them. I made a bugs bunny cake, Sarah made a dinosaur and Brian made a superman cake! Thankfully it stopped  raining as we got done with our cakes and we left home in the evening!

 

We had a big fire going by the creek where we cooked our burgers and toasted marshmallows. Zach taught me how to cast a fishing rod although I didn't catch any fish! Luckily it didst rain the whole night and we all slept well in the tent!

 

Experiencing the country!

After 42 hours of travel time, losing both my luggage, 3 hour of drive and being welcomed by a Llama on the drive way I reached Misty's home at 11pm yesterday. Yes, you read that right! A Llama was waiting for us on the drive way! Poor fellow got out and is roaming about in the neighborhood! Misty and her Dad gave me a very warm welcome and I met her Mom today. They are all so nice to me and I love being around them!

I went to the Farmers Co-op today and saw lots of farm equipment. Craig (Misty's dad) was telling me how expensive farming could get and about all the technologies that they use to farm. It made me think how much Nepal could benefit if the farmers there had access to all these technology. Just as an example we use ox and oxen to plow our fields and it takes forever to even finish up a small portion of the land. The picture below shows you how its done in Nepal. It is so much of manual labor. Only if we had tractors, life would be so much easier and we could harvest so much more than what we do now!

And the equipments here are are huge!!!! Just the tire of the sprayer is taller than me! And it opens up as wide as 80 feet!

I am excited for all the other things that Misty and her family has planned for me! Do come back for more updates!