Menno Reconnect

This past weekend was the annual West Coast Mennonite Central Committee Relief Sale. It was held at the FPU campus right next door. I hadn't anticipated going, but on Friday night, some other folks from the courtyard were planning to go and so I packed up the kids for the 3 minute walk over. I was so glad that we went.

Nate and Maddie joined us, and so Nate wandered off with the two older Heppner kids, while Maddie and I visited with some other MBBS people. We walked through the Ten Thousand Villages tent and looked at all the amazing crafts, beautiful clothes and purses and all the cookbooks. I had purposely not brought my wallet so I wouldn't spend anything that first night. Way too much great stuff!

Maddie and I went into the auditorium to look at all the handmade quilts and afghans that were being auctioned off. I was taken aback at the handiwork. The quilts were so amazing....I don't know if I could ever learn to do that. It was getting loud, so after a few more chats with friends, we made our way out. Nate and the kids had gone by the food station and gotten a big bag of kettle popcorn and some fritters. All three of them were very happy.

The next morning, I went with Maddie and the kids to the waraneki lunch. We waited in line with Ben and Alisa for over 30 minutes and paid, GASP, $12 for 3 waraneki, some salad, 2 pieces of kielbasa and a small cup of pluma moos. But I had to because Maddie had never had waraneki before and it had been about 8 months since I had had any. I was pretty desperate!

Oh the lunch was good. The kids had eaten a large breakfast and so they didn't even finish one plate between the two of them. Asha had her first taste of waraneki and loved it. She kept squawking for more. I was getting full and there was still some left, so I decided that I would take the rest for Carl. He didn't come because he needed to finish the editing on his thesis.

After lunch, Maddie had to work and Kezia and Asha were in desperate need of a nap so we headed back. Later on in the afternoon, Joel wanted to go back to the sale, so we walked over. It was nice to go just with him. I gave him the opportunity to ask and pay for things since it was just the two of us, and he really enjoyed that. We picked up a balloon sword for him, and he also asked the lady to make his sister a purple flower (he said she would be disappointed if he came home with something and she didn't have a cool balloon), we shared a snow cone because the lemonade stand was sold out and then made our way back to the quilt auctions. Joel was intrigued with the guy yelling into the mic and all the people flapping their arms in the air. I bought the Simply in Season cookbook and a neat map of the world. On our way back, we stopped just in time to have a jump in the bounce house before they closed it down.

For supper, we went to Derek and Laura's place for faspa. It was weird not having it on Sunday, but hey, I'll take faspa any day of the week! We had fresh zwiebach and jam and cheese and fruit....it was so yummy. Asha had a great time being licked by the three little pups that were there and being carried around by Laura's dad. Joel and Kezia played frisbee with Laura's sister Sarah most of the evening on the lawn. By 7:30, we were all tired and decided it was time to go home. What a wonderful day to connect with our friends and reunited with our beloved Mennonite food.