Graduation Party Pictures!

To celebrate his graduation Gana asked for a party that was light-hearted and fun with intimate friends and family.  So, the night before the big day we had a little cocktail party.  I love my new house (I know I've mentioned it a time or two).  It's perfectly suited to entertaining.  We opened up the living room double doors so that the party spilled over onto the back porch, lit up with twinkle lights and candles.

The Menu

Drinks

Cranberry Splash

Southern Ginger

Sparkling Water

A Little Something

Tortillini with parmesan dip and roasted garlic

Grilled beef rolls with scallion soy dipping sauce

Mini baked brie

Sausage rolls

Baby vegetables with pesto

Dessert

Assorted ice cream and sorbet shots with fresh berries

French Vanilla Kahlua Coffee with freshly whipped cream

I could not have pulled it off without the help of my dear friend Kristina who helped me with so much food prep!  Finger foods are fun to eat and easy to serve (all you need are some cocktail napkins with whitty sayings on them, LOL!), but they are a lot of work to prep!  So, a big THANK YOU to Kristina!

Kristina and Me

I love our friends!  Time spent with them just FLIES BY!  The party started at 7pm and it seemed that in a blink of an eye it was midnight and we very reluctantly had to say good-night.  We had to be at the graduation by 8:30AM, or else we would have partied all night with you wonderful people!

The party people:

And a massive THANK YOU to my friend Candice who watched all the children so that the grown-ups could enjoy some great conversation!  You rock, Candice!

My Husband Rocks!

On June 12 we passed a huge milestone!  Gana received his Degree from Fuller Thological Seminary.  He now has a Masters of Arts in Christian Leadership.  I'm so proud of him.  Not many men can balance being a husband, father of six, full-time work and seminary studies!  And Gana did it all with grace and excellence! 

Honey, I am soooooo proud of you! 

(The little kids didn't attend the graduation.  It was too long to ask them to sit through it.  But, we all celebrated with Daddy at home.)

My Husband Rocks Friday--He's Brilliant!

What kind of man does it take to obey the Lord's leading and go back to school in his 30's, tackle a Master's Degree at Fuller of all places--in spite of not having obtained a bachelor's degree, work full-time supporting his large and growing family, letting his wife remain a stay-at-home wife and mom, and still bring home mostly A's?

And did I mention that he does this in English, which is not his first, nor his second language! Yep, he's brilliant.

Sorry ladies, he's taken! He's all mine!

Daddy and kids: Homeschooling and Homework.

For more My Husband Rocks visit The Great Adventure.

Blog o' the Week

I love hymns. Although I love to sing them, I also like the read them--such rhythm and beauty. And in this week's blog pick, the president of Fuller Seminary, Rich Mouw, reminds us that hymns contain a great deal of theology.

"We can hope that new generations of Christians will contribute to the storehouse of “compacted theology” by composing and singing new hymns, ones that preserve their own spiritual and theological experiences. But we can also hope that they will not ignore the riches that are readily available in the storehouses that record the memories of those who have walked the paths of discipleship in the past. For those who have come to faith in an age of screens and praise teams, we call those storehouses “hymnbooks”!"

Read more here.

Burning the midnight oil

Thursday was Gana's last day of school for the quarter. Wednesday evening he was studying for Thursday's exam and finishing up a paper due Friday, but that he wanted to turn in on Thursday when he went in for the exam. I went to bed about midnight. About two o'clock I woke up and saw him still working. Poor guy! At three o'clock I saw him still working. At 4:45am he came to bed and uttered the most brillant thing:

"Please wake me up early in the morning so I can study before the test."

I said, "Gana it IS early in the morning."

What would you have said?

I'm selling the books Gana used in his first three quarters at Fuller. He's keeping a few that he liked, but most of them are listed on Amazon for cheap!

At the beginning of October someone purchased, The Change of Conversion and the Origin of Christendom. (Yes, sounds like a real page turner.) We shipped it the day after it was ordered. Done deal.

A few weeks later we got a tersely worded email about the book not being received but the credit card charged. I thought it sounded odd, so I looked it up, emailed the people back with the shipping information.

A few days later we got another email in a little angrier tone. In essence it said, "You didn't ship us the right book! Instead you sent Infantino 3-in-1 Shop and Play. We want our book!!!" He said he had an exam to take using that book in a couple days.

I was stumped. I didn't even know what the Infantino thing was! I emailed them back in essence saying that I had never owned a book called Infantino 3-in-1 Shop and Play and that the correct book was shipped.

A couple days later I got another email. "No the book was not shipped. The Infantino thing is a shopping cart cover/play mat/high chair cover for babies."

When I read that I laughed out loud! We had used cardboard from an old box and reconstructed one to ship the small book.

Here's how I thought to reply: "Please return that package immediately. It is a college level book and you are obviously too dumb to read it."

Instead I said:
"Please open the package. Your book is INSIDE the box. We recycled an old box.
Doing our part to conserve the environment,
Daja."

We got an email back that reminded me of Gilda Radner's "Never Mind" routine on SNL.

Blog o' the Week

I linked to this post from Tall Skinny Kiwi Blog. The blog of the week is the link, not actually Tall Skinny Kiwi, sorry Andrew. It made me laugh out loud! If you don't laugh, you probably are not attending Fuller.

Everything I Need To Know I Learned From The Emerging Church

It's Greek To Me!

Today was Gana's final class for the summer quarter! Yea!

For those that don't know it has been a challenging summer. Gana has been taking a Greek language intensive. It's 12 units in 10 weeks! Add to that that he is learning Greek in English, which is already his third language. To learn your fourth language in your third language is tough! He's done now and has done well! He won't get his official grade for a few weeks. But, as of last week he had an A-. Now we are looking forward to three weeks to relax and spend time together. Time together--a precious and rare thing this summer!

To celebrate we invited his whole class and professor over for lunch after the final exam. We had, what else, Greek food!

I love Greek food. It was so yummy. And I overdid it a bit in the preparations. We have tons left over. So, we are going to share it with our cell group tonight. If your in the area stop by for some stuffed grape leaves and hummus!

I thought I'd share some great recipes with you. I tried some new recipes today, which is always risky when entertaining. But, everything turned out really well. Big risk, big payoff! Enjoy the refreshing flavors of the Mediterranean!

Baked Shrimp With Feta Cheese -- Gharithes Me Feta

2 medium, thinly sliced Onions
1/2 cup Olive Oil
2 lbs., peeled and coarsely chopped Tomatoes
chopped Parsley
2 teaspoons Salt
1/4 teaspoon Pepper
2 cloves Garlic
2 lbs. raw, shelled and de-veined Shrimp
1/2 lb. Feta Cheese
Parsley

In a frying pan saute onions in olive oil until tender. Add tomatoes, chopped parsley, salt pepper and garlic. Cover and simmer for an hour, stirring occasionally. Put sauce and shrimp in 6 scallop shells or individual fireproof dishes. Crumble feta cheese over shrimp and bake uncovered in a very hot oven for 10 to 15 minutes, or until shrimp are cooked and cheese is melted. Garnish with parsley.

I did these in a casserole dish, rather than in individual dishes. It was a crowd pleaser!

Chicken Keftedes

1 lb Ground Chicken
1 Pinch Mint (To taste)
1/3 Cup Onion (Minced)
1 Pinch Oregano (To taste)
1-2 Pinch Pepper (To taste)
2-3 Pinch Salt (To taste)

Mix all the ingredients together, seasoning to taste. Form into small patties and grill. Recipe can easily be doubled for parties or other festive events.

I just did these in a pan on the stove. Turned out really good.

Greek Pasta Salad

1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 1/2 teaspoons dried basil
1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
3/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
3/4 teaspoon white sugar
2 1/2 cups cooked elbow macaroni
3 cups fresh sliced mushrooms
15 cherry tomatoes, halved
1 cup sliced red bell peppers
3/4 cup crumbled feta cheese
1/2 cup chopped green onions
1 (4 ounce) can whole black olives
3/4 cup sliced pepperoni sausage, cut into strips

DIRECTIONS
In a large bowl, whisk together olive oil, vinegar, garlic powder, basil, oregano, black pepper, and sugar. Add cooked pasta, mushrooms, tomatoes, red peppers, feta cheese, green onions, olives, and pepperoni. Toss until evenly coated. Cover, and chill 2 hours or overnight.

(I used Pene instead of macaroni. I wanted the texture to hold the flavors of the dressing. It worked very well. And looked better than macaroni would have, I think.)

Tzatziki

INGREDIENTS
1 (32 ounce) container plain low-fat yogurt
1/2 English cucumber with peel, grated
1 clove garlic, pressed
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
3 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon fresh ground black pepper

DIRECTIONS
Stir together yogurt, grated cucumber, garlic, lemon juice, and olive oil in a bowl. Add lemon zest, dill, salt, and pepper; whisk until smooth. Pour into a serving dish, cover tightly, and refrigerate 8 hours before serving.

Ministry Update

Gana & Daja Gombojav
Alpha Beth Ministries
P. O. Box 3415
Paso Robles, CA 93447
626-584-1667

Dear Friends:

Happy Spring! We hope this letter finds you doing well and enjoying all the blessings of the Lord!

We have two exciting blessings to share with you.

First of all, we’d like to introduce to you Ihbeleg Dale Gombojav! He was born March 23 at 2:35pm. He weighed 7 pounds, 7 ounces and was 20 inches long. Ihbeleg means “Great Gift” in Mongolian. Dale is Daja’s aging grandfather’s name. We feel so blessed and are enjoying our Gift so very much!

Our second blessing to share is that Gana has finished his first quarter at Fuller. He has been working part time and going to school full time. Add to that keeping up with the family and even building the children a wonderful tree house and you can imagine his schedule! It has certainly been a challenge beginning a Master’s program after having been out of highschool for 15 years! We are happy to report that he got all A’s in his first quarter! God has been so faithful in meeting our needs that we haven’t been behind on any of our obligations! Thank YOU and thank the LORD!

In addition to these two big blessings, we are also happy to report that we are getting involved in a church here in Pasadena. It has taken us some time to find the church to which God was leading us. We prayed and visited so many! When we went to Harvest Rock (http://harvestrockchurch.org/index.php), we immediately felt at home.

Often during this time of year (tax-time!), missionary and ministry support takes a dip. We have been no exception. Our obligations in the coming months add up to considerably more than our income. We aren’t worried because God has never failed us. He opened this door for attending Fuller and we are confident in His provision.

We don’t see this time in our lives as a step back from ministry, but as pressing forward and a time of serious preparation for an even greater ministry. We ask you, our faithful prayer warriors and financial supporters, to remember us.

1. We covet your prayers. This Spring quarter has brought more challenging classes for Gana and the balancing act of a new baby and the excitement of a new church life. We need your prayers for provision and wisdom.

2. We need financial support. Gana’s Spring quarter fees are $2479. We have arranged to make payments, but even these arrangements are by faith! If you believe that the Church needs trained and educated pastors and missionaries, please consider helping us to achieve this goal by financially supporting our ministry.

Last, but certainly not least, if there is any way we can minister to you or lift up your prayer needs, please let us know! We would consider it a great honor to be able to minister back to you!

Yours for Souls,

The Gombojav Tribe
Gana, Daja, Meg, Israel, Luc, Caesar, and Ihbeleg

P.S. Remember that you can read updates and see current pictures any time on our family blog! http://www.gombojav.blogspot.com/

Finals at Fuller!

Gana's first quarter at Fuller is almost finished!

Just need to fine-tune some term papers!