PWCGHM !!!!!! - Polish World Championship of Gingerbread House Making

There was a spark and then all was dark!!!!! 

That looks perfect!

Very detailed wall work!

Top secret design

  

Yes, in the midst of the PWCGHM the electricity went out.  Later when interviewed, Eirik commented that he had seen such things happen in other homes, but this had never occurred in his own home. In the end he determined it was due to the extra charge in the air from all the creativity going on this year for the PWCGHM!  To make things more interesting, of course, only part of one gingerbread house was already baked.  This meant that other homes were only “half-baked” or not baked at all.  Oops!  I see that I’m getting ahead of myself.  Let me step back a bit. 

Cutting out the parts

House in the raw!

The night started out with 3 teams being formed.  Each gathered in different parts of Ytterlands’ place to design and plan their gingerbread house.  Next the dough was rolled out, plans traced and dough cut out.  Some teams did some creative finish work on the wall pieces and each cut out at least one door and window.  Creativity was strong that evening, as one gingerbread home was even planned without front or back walls, another had a fence, dog and tower, while another had a Christmas Tree!  

Adding the color

Glue you too!

Once the electricity was back on, our gingerbread consultant, Eirik the knowledgeable of all things gingerbready, melted a batch of sugar that became the glue that held each part of the baked pieces together (& a few fingers too!).   Then the evening took on color as white glue-like frosting was added to the gingerbread houses along with dark and white chocolate and colorful candy pieces.  The effect of each home is hard to express, so I’ll let the pictures do the rest! 

The champions!

The team that worked straight through the dark making sure their walls were ideally designed and created before being baked was the winning team composed of Laurie, Kriszti, Piotrek & Kaja!  Congrats!!!  Thanks to all who came for a great time and to Eirik and Coralanne & cucumber for hosting us!!!!

Barnabas' Purpose, More Than it Seems at First Glance!

Karoline had much to share!

“Take what you need....”  Laurie led us in an ice breaker that had us passing around a roll of toilet paper, and taking what we might, well, need.  She then let us in on the second part of the instructions…. 

“Now tell us something about yourself for every square you took!”  This second instruction provoked laughter as well as gave some of us a chance to hear a quite a learn more about one another, including quite a bit more about our guest speaker, Reinier van den Berg! 

Guest Speaker-Reinier

After some time of worship by reading the Psalms, Reinier began with the following question, “Was the purpose of Barnabas to accompany Paul, so Paul wouldn’t be lonely during his travels?”  After reading the Scripture together we determined there was more to Barnabas than previously thought.   Barnabas was mentioned early in Acts, in fact in Acts 4.  From this section we saw Barnabas was part of the early church, his real name was Joseph and Barnabas was actually his nickname because he was such an encourager.  In the beginnings of the church in Jerusalem he also sold property to help support the church.  Later Barnabas noticed Paul preaching and brought him in to introduce Paul to the apostles in Jerusalem. 

As we began to look more in depth at Barnabas, many things stood out.  He was an encourager, was generous, he had a discerning spirit of the movement of God and he was ready when called to do something. 
   

What a crew!

So the questions that we can ask ourselves:   Are we already serving in a manner that brings glory to God?  Are we seeped in God’s Word and in prayer so that we can hear God’s voice?  Are we REALLY ready to say ‘YES’ when God calls on us to take action?  Thanks Reiner and greets to all who came.  To those unable to attend, “We missed you” and hope to see you next week Friday (Dec 9) for the PWCGHM!  Read all about it in the information to the right!  Till next time!