Skip to main content

We Make Turning 40 Fun!

I know I'm a little behind on posting, but I have an excuse, which I'll tell you about soon.  But first, you can't live in Paraguay and not have a party spirit!  Here's our celebration for Norberto's 40th birthday last week.  We made his favorite food, which is gnocchi's (noquis in Spanish) for lunch.  It's an Italian potato pasta, and while it's a little laborious, it's so worth the effort. 

Here Timmy's using the special wooden gnocchi maker, but you can get the same look using a fork.

We planned a backyard BBQ with friends, but since the forecast called for freezing weather and storms, we had our little shindig at the local restaurant.  Since it was so stormy, we had the whole place to ourselves!


 We had some games, led by Norberto's brother Marcos, followed by some entertainment.
 
 The Kurrle Quartet made their appearance with some great songs, including one humorous song dedicated especially to Norberto.
 This is one of the games we played.  It's a potato peeling contest with men who are over forty!  We joked about what you need and what you lack when you reach 40.  We also did a questionnaire to see who knows Norberto best.  What do you think his favorite snack is?:

a.  chipas
b.  potato chips
c.  Nestle's crunch bar
d.  popcorn                       (see answer below)
Yes, I dusted off the ol' trumpet and we did a medley.  I only did it because Norb begged, asked me nicely and I love my husband VERY much.  Musical talent is strong on the Kurrle side of the family, ahem, not mine.

See what I mean; here's a really superb duo, Nila and Priscila (Norberto's beautiful sisters).  They did an upbeat song in Portuguese.  Like I said, mucho talento.
 
Not only were we among great friends, the whole family was present from all over Paraguay!  We are so thankful that we could be together for this fun fiesta and celebrate God's goodness to Norberto over the past four decades.  Here's looking toward the next forty!


P.S.  The answer is C.  Norberto LOVES Nestle's crunch bars!
Labels:

Comments

  1. AnonymousJuly 5, 2011 at 12:33 PM

    haha, i guessed correctly. it's the beams who like the salty, the kurrles like the sweets.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Jeff and Amy McKissickJuly 6, 2011 at 5:49 AM

    happy birthday! We LOVE celebrating birthdays. could you again send me a link to your other blog. when our computer crashed, it messed that up. We like the Argentina side of the falls better.

    ReplyDelete
  3. SuzyJuly 6, 2011 at 10:57 AM

    Wow, what a wonderful celebration for a great guy! Veo que lo pasaron muy lindo! And I'm super impressed that you make ñoquis by hand, Julie. SUPER impressed. Did I mention that I miss ñoquis???

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Christmas in Paraguay!

If you're wondering what Paraguayans do at Christmastime, they have some great traditions , including the " noche buena " meal on Christmas Eve at midnight.  They eat lots chipa guasu (a type of corn casserole, stay tuned for a recipe), asado or grilled meat (some eat it cold), salads, especially fruit salad, watermelon and drink mucho terere . Families travel from all over the country, many even return from working in other countries like Brazil, Argentina, and Spain, to celebrate with loved ones. This is us at last year's Kurrle celebration in Asuncion. Festivities are anything but a silent night with fireworks, loud music and drinking cidra (hard cider).  Most Paraguayans do not decorate Christmas trees (we decorate ours in shorts!) or emphasize Santa Claus.  Instead, they put beautiful nativities " pesebres " in their yards and in store fronts.  Kind of novel to focus on Christ at Christmas, isn't it! To beat the heat, many Paraguayans g
4 comments
Read more

Paraguayan Weddings

On Valentine’s Day, we had the joy of attending the wedding of Sandra and Anastacio, young leaders in the church. Sandra is my assistant with Children of Promise and Anastacio, apart from his carpentry job, has a popular youth-focused radio program every night at 8:00 on our station. We’ve been to quite a few weddings, and these are some of the uniquenesses of southern Paraguayan wedding celebrations from our North American culture: 1. Nothing is fancy. Emphasis is placed on the act of marriage and not on the decorations or food. 2. It is not an expectation that parents help pay for expenses. Most families just make it each month with regular expenses and cannot afford to pay for eleborate feasts. Most couples have to spend months saving for their own wedding. 3. Borrow as much as possible. Many times wedding dresses are borrowed 5-10 times, because few women can afford their own. Flowers, decorations, shoes and ties (Norb loans out his ties often...since he never wears them!
3 comments
Read more

Fighting Discouragement in the Busyness of Life

Hubby and I have made an agreement not to talk about sensitive issues after 10:00 p.m. It’s a rule in our household because when we were first married our late night talks would turn into fights and we would say hurtful things, because we were tired and our reasoning senses were shot. We eliminated almost all arguments with that simple rule. Exhaustion takes the best out of a person. Another new book on the market,talks about the high burnout rate among pastors. In reading reviews of the book, the author says that lack of sleep is one of the main causes of burnout. I’m reading this book that also deals with the correlation of sleep deprivation and discouragement. It’s a book for overactive people who are seeking to strengthen a love relationship with the Lord. Being in the ministry, I feel the demands of people’s needs constantly. Daily, we hear claps at the door to pray, to chauffeur people around, to do weddings, funerals, to lead Bible studies, to counsel just about any pro
3 comments
Read more