Wow, it has been quite a while since I have written anything! Life has been so chaotic for the past several months, and I hope to do an update post soon, but for now I just want to share about an amazing weekend that I had with my family. I was so thankful to be able to go back to Pennsylvania for an event-filled few days. In addition to seeing my parents, brother, and his girlfriend, my twin sister and her family were able be there for the weekend as well! On Saturday, we went to church and then enjoyed the afternoon out on the lake. It was so relaxing being on the water, and we discovered a rope swing that the men enjoyed, rather precariously! That night, Cam and I went to our very informal 10 year high school reunion. It was a small group, but we still had fun hanging out and spending time with our best friend from high school, BriAnna, and her husband. My dad wanted to take a picture of us before we left to commemorate the ten years that had gone by, and I am so glad that he did!
My dad couldn’t resist the thrill of the rope swing!
Elle loved being on the boat and in the water!
Sunday was another full day. In the morning, we went to Oliver’s baptism service at BriAnna’s family church. It was so special to be there with other friends and family and see him be dedicated and welcomed into the church. That afternoon we attended his 1st birthday party where he had a BLAST with his cake, I think he enjoyed smashing it even more than eating it!
Oliver’s baptism outfit was precious!
Monday was filled with even more family time! My aunt, uncles, and all of my cousins on my mother’s side of the family came to Pennsylvania for a mini reunion. I have incredibly fun memories of getting together with my cousins as we grew up, and now, as we are all building our own families, it is just the best getting to watch all of the little ones play together. Altogether, we had nine children present, with seven who were under the age of four, including two new babies! It was wonderful being able to watch them interact with each other, both at the house and later at the pool. I am extremely grateful to have had that time at home with so many loved ones and am looking forward to the next time that we’ll all be together!
The whole group! ( minus Bren who’d left for work)
Autumn and Eleanor are only about two weeks apart in age!
The cousins and their children! From one month old up to a teenager.
Hello friends! It has been a while since I’ve had the chance to write, things have been very busy over the past few weeks! On Tuesday I returned home from my yearly Medical Dental Mission Trip to Honduras. I began going on this trip with my father and sisters when I was 16 and have only missed two years since. I realized while down there that this was my 10th year being a part of the team! This trip means so much to me and I hope to be able to continue the tradition for years to come. Every June, our team of medical and dental professionals, as well as general helpers, travel down to a rural village in Honduras, typically a few hours drive from San Pedro Sula, one of the largest cities. We typically visit a village for two years in a row and then move on to a different location the next year, where we go depends on the need of the surrounding area and whether there are facilities that will accommodate our equipment. This year we went to the town of San Luis, which is in one of the poorest departments (kind of like states in the US) in Honduras. This was my fourth time in San Luis as we had come here in years past due to the great need. In this town and the surrounding mountain villages and settlements, there are approximately 40,000 people. While some towns do have medical and dental services, most Hondurans are unable to afford to have the work done or are unable to lose a day of work in order to go to the doctor or dentist. Major surgeries and procedures would have to be performed in the city, hours away, which is just not an option for most of the people where we were. To give some perspective, even those people who are considered “well-off” in Honduras would be well below the poverty line in the US. Once we arrived in San Luis, we began setup of our clinic for the week. We had a general dental clinic for restorations, an oral surgery clinic for extractions as well as other facial surgeries, a medical clinic, optical clinic, and a pharmacy. We worked Monday through Friday from about 8:30 am until 6:00 pm, sometimes even later, and then worked a half day on Saturday.
People lining up outside on our first day of clinic. This year we were set up in a school.As most of the water isn’t purified, we tried to give piperazine, a de-worming medication, to as many people as we could.
Patients would begin to line up hours before we were open. Many had come from far away, some on foot, and hoped to be among the first patients seen so that they wouldn’t be making their journey home in the dark. Upon entering the clinic, patients would choose to either receive medical or dental care, and were then triaged to determine which specific need could be met. Almost all of the Hondurans who came to our clinic needed multiple areas of care, but with our limited amount of time and caregivers, we had to decide which need was most critical.
Every year I work in the general dentistry clinic, assisting a dentist while they do fillings, and this year I was lucky enough to be able to assist my father. I love assisting in the dental clinic, but being able to work with my dad made it even more special. The most common teeth that we see needing to be filled are numbers 7, 8, 9, and 10, the upper front four teeth. These can be more challenging cases as they require additional time in order to successfully fill and shape, or sometimes almost completely rebuild, the front teeth, but they are also the most rewarding as you are transforming a persons smile. My father aims to give them a beautiful transformation that looks natural with their other teeth. Some patients are openly ecstatic with their results, but others are so used to hiding their front teeth and their smile out of embarrassment that they are still hesitant to open their mouths after. This young girl was very shy before and after her work, but she told us that she was happy with the results. (We made sure to get permission before taking pictures.)
My father and I with a patient after restoring her upper front teeth.
Before
After
This year in the general dentistry clinic we had five dentists performing restorations, with my father being the only North American. We were blessed to have the largest number of Honduran dental and medical professionals join us to serve as we have ever had in previous years. At the end of the week, we had seen 192 patients in the general dental clinic and had filled 930 teeth. In the oral surgery clinic they extracted over 2,000 teeth and performed several cyst removals as well as other minor facial surgeries. I don’t have the full statistics yet for the other clinics but will update this once I do. This specific medical mission trip has been going to Honduras for over 20 years, and as some of the founding members of the team are now unable to make it we hope to find new members who feel called to serve the people of Honduras, whether it be as a doctor, dentist, pharmacist, or general helper. For the time that we are there, we seek to help as many people as possible, but we often leave feeling that we are the ones who have received a blessing. If anyone is interested in being part of this trip in the future or would just like some more information about what we do there please do not hesitate to contact me!
My father, mother, Dr. Laura, myself, and my older sister. Dr. Laura is a Honduran dentist who volunteered her time to help us in the dental clinic. She was so hardworking, always ready to see another patient, and her example gives us hope that the work we do to serve those in Honduras will continue even after we have returned to the States.
A few weeks ago, I found out that my brother-in-law would be in town to celebrate his birthday with family and friends. I immediately began to think about what kind of cake I could make for the celebration. Baking a cake from scratch is such an exciting and rewarding experience for me. I very much enjoy watching a myriad of ingredients turn into batter, and then into cake, and ending with a frosted masterpiece. I was doubly excited because making the cake gave me a chance to use my new rotating cake stand and bench scraper, wedding presents from my mother. I love trying out new recipes, although it can be slightly nerve-wracking when serving them to others after a first attempt, and I found this recipe for a Strawberry Lemonade Cake in the Tasty app. Overall, the process was simple and straightforward. I would definitely make this cake in the future, it met with rave reviews and was almost entirely gone by the end of the night! Making and dividing the batter into pans was a smooth process, the only note that I would make is that if you don’t have three of the same kind of pan the cakes may come out of the oven in varying colors. I had two darker pans, and the cakes in those pans were more browned than the cake made in the lighter pan. All cakes were properly baked and there wasn’t a difference in taste, simply in appearance. This isn’t an issue unless you plan on having a more naked style cake.
The middle cake was less browned, but all three were well baked.
The frosting is made using whipping cream, which I typically prefer as it is lighter and not as sickly sweet as buttercream frosting can often be. It took a few minutes longer than usual for the heavy whipping cream to whip, but once it did I added the strawberry preserves and it was delicious. For anyone not used to using whipping cream, be careful not to over-whip or it could turn into butter rather than frosting! The light strawberry frosting was the perfect complement to the lemon cake and was quite easy to spread. I intend to use this frosting recipe for future cakes, but will try using different kinds of preserves. A chocolate cake with an orange frosting sounds like an excellent experiment! I let the cake have a slightly naked feel, but still used generous amounts of frosting on the top and sides. The layers of strawberries and frosting between each cake also made each bite super flavorful and moist.
The frosting is generous on top and between each layer, with a slightly naked feel around the sides.
I’m still learning how to frost and decorate cakes, but I loved using the bench scraper and rotating cake stand. They were so helpful in keeping the frosting in even amounts around the sides. I had originally intended to decorate the top of the cake with sliced strawberries, but when it came time to blow out the candles it seemed unnecessary. If you do choose to do so, be careful not to decorate the top of the cake with the sliced strawberries in advance. If you do, the strawberry slices will leak juice all down the sides of the cake. The strawberries between each layer of cake will not do this as the frosting on the sides holds it in. I had so much fun making and frosting this cake. It is light, delicious, and tastes like a summer picnic!
Simple and delicious! Sliced strawberries and lemon peel could be used to make a more elaborately decorated cake.
Brianne Elizabeth 