The Simple Things in One's Life Is a Grand Adventure in Anothers

I love, adore, am tickled, nostalgic by my job. It is one of the most fullfiling things that I have ever done in my life. In fact it has changed my life. To me this is my "2" year mission. God has blessed me in this regard to help so many of his wonderful children. I even choke up a little thinking of each indiviual I have met so far, and how much I love them. It is as if God has given me a glimpse into how much he loves his children.

One of my favorite things about working with refugees is seeing through their eyes a new world. Things that are so innate to me, so simple, background, are new wonders to some. I never get tierd seeing the reaction of a client riding the Salt Lake City glass elevator to the top floor. The squeels of laughter they make as they go  higher and higher.

 Yesterday we took a group of congolese refugees to the top of the library building. All of the sudden an older man stopped and pointed at a tree. In my mind I thought he liked the tree because of the fall coloring it was reciving. Yet, his daughter--who speaks english--explained he was suprised that a tree could grow on the top of a building and wanted to take a picture to send his family and friends.



Or taking a group of professionals that need to get re-certfied in their field to see how large and beautiful the Universty of Utah campus is. Or taking refugees to a skate park to witness for their first time people doing crazy stunts on a board with wheels.

 Or taking a refugee family to their First haloween festival where they marvel at people wearing outfits fit for a princess, cowboy, or star trek character.

I love MY JOB!!!!

So this weekend I was surfing the TV, and came across this documentry called Crazy Sexy Cancer. Learning about cancer is not something that I would usually pause and watch, but there was something about this documentry, and the person filiming it ( Kris Carr) that was very applicable to almost everyone in this world.

Kris is so genuine, vulnerable, and has such an endearing personality that you just can't help but relate and be sucked into her world.  I loved the documentary so much that I picked up a few of her books at the library, and also looked at her website http://www.crazysexylife.com . Although these other items were good I believe the documentary is the most special out of the bunch. Here is a little video about her, and the documentary. Enjoy


Crazy Sexy Cancer promo from Crazy Sexy Life on Vimeo.



Welcome to CSL! from Crazy Sexy Life on Vimeo.

Sick

With the newness of my job, and having clients coughing on me A LOT lately, I was bound to soon get sick. This week I have been "putting it off" though as I had so much stuff I both needed and wanted to get done. We had the career fair for our refugee clients which consisted of me making each one of them a folder with their resumes, and a prompt sheet. On top of that we took a group of them, 20 in total, to the mountains to experience Olympic site sees from the 2002 Olympics in Utah,

 the beauty of the mountain side-- which included for many of them their first viewing of snow (amazing how each culture automatically thinks it is fun to just pick up snow and chuck it at people), and a tour of park city.

Suffice it to say the added work stress, toppled with cold weather of our trip yesterday-- no matter how fun it was-- exacerbated my cold. I ended up waking up with swelling all over my throat. So I ended up going and getting some herbal tea at the store.

This was my first time drinking herbal tea because my religion prohibits tea...although many of my lds friends explained that this was only for green and black tea NOT herbal tea. After looking it up on my church's website to make sure it confirmed that it was indeed ok to drink herbal tea. 

I got few different blends which included apple cinnamon with an infusion of chamomile, orange peel, and hibiscus. The other was a licorice infusion that said it would help with respiratory distress. So far I have liked the apple spice MUCH better. 

Please send me happy thoughts and prayers that I may get better before work starts again Tuesday.

Love,

Brittani

Pakistan and the UN

Yes , I know what happend yesterday in Pakistan. I have put off talking about it because it creates a little sore spot in my heart. This suicide bomb hit me on many levels this time. Not only because it was in PAkistan, but because it was on the people of the UN. The UN is a champion for human rights including those of refugees. In fact this is the group that hosts refugees in camps, gives them food, shelter, and saftey from harm. Those that died were those that worked tirelessly to feed those in need of food.

My heart is overwhelmed with grief ,and sorrow, for those that lost a mother, daughter, sister, brother, son, father, and friend. The person who did this seemed not to know how precious these people were to their  families. That is what hurts most about this situation. These were God's children who brought light to their families, and now that light is gone. God bless those families. Please remember to pray for them tonight that they may, in time, feel comfort.

love,
brittani

Baklava, Key Lime Pie, Fresh pie OH MY!

So this weekend I kind of went on a cooking binge....

It first started with Key lime pie. I made this Thursday night out of fresh limes, and a fresh pie shell. I added more lime juice than nessacry so it turned out REALLY limey...but I LOVED IT! It was a cool and refreshing deseret.

I then went to the Farmers market with a few of our refugee clients. It was a blast! We were able to look at fresh produce, see many dogs, and allow the new refugees to eat some "American" food-- like popcorn. 

We also were able to see many differn't types of performances look a harmonica guy, a very apparent American proffessor playing Middle Eastern music, a African American man singing  Hootie and the Blowfish Covers, and some South American Capoeria. 

After walking through the market once we then walked through agian and bought some produce. I bought peacehes, rasberries, and tomatoes. When home I made a fresh peach and rasberry pie. I then chicken parmasean with added tomatoes....It was delicous! I then took extra to the refugees that came with us so they could taste their FIRST American pie.

Sunday I ended up making Baklava which I thought was going to be a lot harder then it actually is. It is time consuming, yes, but not hard....It was a ooy gooy mess--which I loved! 

For dinner that night I had REALLY SPICY curry. In it was curry powder, peppers, pepper flakes, ginger, chicken, onions, garlic, and coconut milk...yum yum yum....This week I may try making more healthy options...If you have any ideas feel free to comment. 

Love,

Brittani

I love him so much!

Just wanted to take a moment to express my deep and thankful love of Tom. We have known each other for about three years, and through our ups and downs God has blessed us with the knowledge of us being together. Each day I love him more and more, and am so glad that we will spend eternity together.

Some things that I love so much about him are

1. How he has taken it apon himself to take care of his mother, and sibilings after his father left. He works more than 16 hours a day to pay for rent, food, utilities, phone bills, and his mothers medical care for her diabetes. I know that this will translate to him taking care of our family when we have children.

2. His sweet disposition. He is such a sweet and good soul. You can feel that from a few thousand miles away ;-)

3. He is one of those rare men that desire to have a family of children.

I LOVE YOU TOM! I can't wait to spend forever with you.. *Kisses and Hugs*

Indian/Pakistani food and American deserets

So I have been on somewhat of a cooking spree this past weekend and  begining of this week. Usually I tottaly try to avoid cooking because A. I don't have time B. I don't have skill. Yet, with me being graduated, and now having nothing to do on the weekend or weeknights, I have been able to spread my wings.


When I usually learn a new recipie I follow written instructions only to miss a step or two. This time I learned how to correct this error by watching youtube.com cooking videos. You tube is really the bomb...In a about an hour I was able to learn how to make Punjabi Samosas ,and and apple crip desert.

The punjabi Samaosas were supposed to look like nice beautiful trangles such as the picture below, but ended up being wrapped in various ways as I tried to emmulate the design. They tasted delicous, though, with cooked potatoes, black beans, ginger, curry spice, garlic, and other yummy spices stuffed in the shell.  The apple crisp, that I also made, was delicious. It was created with fresh applies, had a cinnamon mixture on top, and drizzled with butter.

Today I  tried my hand at a new pakistani dish called Tikka  Masala. It is a pakistani sauce that has tomatoes, peppers, chicken, and yougurt in it. Once that was cooked I then added it to rice. It was one spicy dish, yet delicous! I made enough to last me for a week! For deseret I was able to make homemade choclate brownies.

This new cooking adventure has made me feel really domestic. I don't know if it is the fall weather setting in that yearns for me to have some nostaligic comfort or what , but I am enjoying it.

My next adventure will have to be something made out of curry as one of my clients gave me a whole bottle of authentic curry powder....If you have any recipies feel free to comment or send them to my e-mail.

love,
Brittani