Amber's Amazing Milkshakes

Made these for breakfast yesterday.  It made two huge milkshakes for Joe and me!

-1 cup frozen blueberries (I get mine at Costco)
-1 cup frozen sliced or diced strawberries (Costco again)
-1 cup frozen chopped up peaches (I bought them fresh at Costco, but we couldn't finish them all, so I cut them up and froze them)
-Some milk, and if you have it, half and half or cream
-1/2 to 1 cup frozen sugar syrup.  Dissolve 1/4 to 1/2 cup of sugar in an equal amount of water by microwaving for 30 seconds, whisking till dissolved, and sticking in the freezer.

Blend!  I used the Cuisinart blender on "stir" setting.  I dumped in some cream I had to finish up, and poured in milk till I liked the consistency.  Oh my gosh.

Of course it tasted better because I felt like I invented it!

In other news, Joe and I are heading to Ecuador the 7th through 17th.  We'll spend about half the time in Quito, exploring the city, and we'll also meet up with the missionaries we support, Leo and Lulu Calva.  These are the missionaries I worked with on a short term mission trip three years ago exactly, five days before Joe and I started dating!

After Quito, we'll fly to Cuenca (the closest airport to our final destination) with Leo and Lulu, then drive with them to their home city of Loja.  We're not sure yet exactly how we'll spend our time, but we're staying with them in their home, so that'll be fun.  We'll explore Loja, and meet up with some people I met on our first trip.

I'm so excited to spend time with them, and hopefully minister to them - missionaries need ministering to, as Candice can attest!  Like anyone else, they don't have perfect marriages or perfect families, plus they deal with a lot of stress and disappointment, often without the support of family or ministers (since they ARE the ministers!) They have an eight year old, Pablo, and I'm hoping it'll work out to babysit him while we give them a dinner out.

That's my main prayer: that we are a blessing to them, not a burden.  That when we leave, they will feel refreshed and thankful, not burdened and relieved!

My second prayer is for my dear husband.  This is quite a strange experience for him!  I want him to enjoy every minute of it.  He has a habit of worrying whether he's gotten his money's worth.

My third prayer is for the travel.  We have eight flights over the course of our round trip.  With layovers, it totals about 40 hours.  We also have about 8 hours of driving total between Cuenca and Loja, and back.  That's exactly two full days taken up with travel: two days living off suitcases and snacks and expensive airport food, uncomfortable and stiff and bored.

Since we're traveling so much, I want this to be an opportunity for...something.  Instead of feeling annoyed at "wasted time," I want us to grow closer together, or spend time with our seatmates, or whatever opportunities there are on plane flights or airports or long drives.  I want us to be mentally alert, headache-free, and have good attitudes, and I want to be able to minister to someone, sometime on the trip.

I have bought Joe an expensive back support and neck pillow after researching.  I printed about ten pages of in-seat plane exercises.  I'm ready to stay hydrated, stand up and use the restroom to keep circulation going.  I've got all the just in case stuff: anti-nausea, anti-diarrhea, anti-constipation, eye drops, spare contacts and solution, gum and candy and snacks, portable DVD player (OH YES, best investment ever), bandaids, sudafed/zyrtec/allegra/benadryl/flonase, extra hygiene things in case we get stuck somewhere, mints, cribbage, notebook, our Nooks, glasses if I don't feel like wearing contacts, deodorant, tweezers - basically, I tried to think of every possible uncomfortable situation on a plane ride and got something to combat it.

 And boy, am I prepared.  I have been using the same pack list for trips since my first Ecuador trip, modifying it for each place we've gone.  I list the items by where we are going: for example, I have the list of stuff that will be in my purse, my carry-on, and my checked suitcase, as well as my traveling outfit!

I have a very detailed day-by-day itinerary which I'm still adding things to.  I have all our plane flight stuff printed out.  I have copies of our important documents in case they get lost or stolen - plus I emailed them to ourselves and Angela so we can print them out if we need to.

AND I'm so busy with other things!  This week I'm going to the dentist, the doctor, Puyallup twice for two allergy shots, meeting with someone to help them edit something, meeting with a friend for fun, meeting with a lady to get blinds installed in our house, and I don't know what else but it's on my calendar.  Today I'm making cookies and taking them to Joe at work (he's in Puyallup and I need to go there anyway), and I'm about to take a 2-mile walk (assuming my second cup of tea kicks in).