Soup Joumou Recipes

Haitian Soup Joumou is more than just soup--this is a symbol Haiti's independence.

Before 1804, the black Haitians were forbidden from touching joumou, a flavorful and aromatic pumpkin savored by their white French masters. When independence was gained, what better way to celebrate than to enjoy what was once forbidden?

So, this is what Haitians traditionally consume Jan. 1, Haiti's Independence Day.

Thanks to the Real Hope For Haiti Rescue Center for this version of the recipe.

Ingredients:
1 lb corned beef or beef stew meat (you can use chicken or goat as well)
water
1 1/2 lbs pumpkin, peeled & diced
2 turnips, diced
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 sprig parsley
1 sprig thyme
3 garlic cloves, crushed
1 cup milk
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1 tablespoon butter
3/4 cup rice, washed (uncooked, not instant)
salt
3/4 teaspoon pepper
2 to 4 teaspoons butter

Instructions:

In a saucepan, cover beef generously with water and boil over medium-low heat, partially covered for 1 hour.

Drain and chop beef into bite-sized pieces.

In a saucepan, bring 4 cups of water to a boil; add pumpkin, turnips, beef, onions, parsley, thyme, and 2 cloves garlic. Simmer until pumpkin is tender (15 minutes). Discard parsley and thyme.

Transfer pumpkin to food processor with 1/4 cup stock and puree. Return to saucepan and heat through.

Add milk, nutmeg, butter, and rice; cook until rice is tender (15-20 minutes).

Season with salt and pepper, and mix in remaining garlic.

Serve hot with a little butter in each bowl.

Serving Size: 4


Thanks to Joshua and Liz Daby for this version:

1 lb beef
1 medium butternut squash
1 to 2 cups cabbage
2 carrots
1 cup spinach
1 large onion
4 cloves garlic
6 to 8 cups chicken broth
½ tsp cloves
Black pepper/salt
½ cup macaroni
1 habenero

Instructions:

Brown the meat in some oil, add chopped onion and garlic, sauté.

Add chicken broth, spices and peeled chunked squash.

Add whole habenero, bring mixture to a boil then cover and simmer up to 1 hour.

Add carrots, cabbage (shredded) and spinach.

Cook until carrots are just about tender, add macaroni and cook 5 to 7 minutes more.

This should be thick, the squash falls apart and becomes part of the broth.

Please send contributions for the blog to jodie.eyberg@gmail.com.
We'd love your recipes, "how we were called to adopt" stories, etc.!

Jock & Lisa's Adoption Journey -- So Far ...

We were married in 1999, and began to try to grow our family soon after. About two years into our marriage, we sought medical assistance, not knowing the emotional roller-coaster we would face of hope in fertility treatments and loss of multiple pregnancies. The Lord used this time to learn from these experiences and to grow a closer bond than we ever could have imagined. The door had been closed to us having biological children, but He opened our hearts and minds to adoption as a means of growing our family.

After several months of researching various options, we had all but settled on adopting from Haiti, when Lisa read a personal interest story on her company website of a family that had adopted from Haiti. With Haiti being a relatively unknown country from which to adopt at that time (2005), this was the God’s confirmation to us that we were to adopt from Haiti! So, we continued to research the possibilities.

In early May 2005, we decided on an agency, began working on our application, and started gathering paperwork for our dossier. The day we’d planned to mail the application form to the agency, we learned that Lisa was pregnant. This threw us for a loop! The agency we’d chosen was not one that would allow your adoption to continue if you became pregnant, so we did not mail in the application that day. One week later, Lisa was in emergency surgery for an ectopic pregnancy.

During the next couple of months, while getting Lisa healthy again, we felt strongly that we should be adopting independently, not through the agency. So we began researching our adoptions, and came upon For His Glory. We did some more research and prayed over this option, and felt that this was where God was leading us – this was where our children were. We started the application process, and continued learning more about dossier preparation and the adoption process.

In August 2005, as we were waiting on the reference letters needed for our application, we received a call from a relative in another state regarding a child that may need an adoptive family. We prayed over this, yet another change in course, and truly believed that our children were in Haiti, but that we needed to be available for this child first, and follow this path where ever it would lead.

This path required us to become licensed for foster care and adoption in our state, but about half-way through the training, we learned that this child would be returning to live with his biological family. We had a certain peace about this loss – that he was not meant to be a part of our family, but that God was using this as a path towards another child/children. We continued the training, as we were learning useful parenting skills. We also thought that, while we were not comfortable with foster parenting, having the dual adoption license could possibly open doors… which it most certainly did!

Within one month of obtaining our state license, we got a call about a little girl. This surprised us, because with the comfort level of placements we’d specified it was unlikely that we’d get a call. We had a few visits with this little girl and prayed about whether this she was meant to be a part of our family. Over a course of a few weeks, this was confirmed for us - she was our little girl. She was placed with us in March 2006, and we finalized her adoption on Adoption Saturday, November 18, 2006. What a blessing this was, after starting trying to grow our family in 2000, and opening our hearts to adoption in early 2005.


Well, even before our daughter’s adoption was finalized, we felt the tug on our hearts to again seek an adoption from Haiti. We prayed over this for several months, and in March 2007, decided to again start paperwork to adopt independently through For His Glory, and began immediately working on both our application and our dossier.

Quite a whirlwind the paperwork gathering was! Our application to For His Glory was completed, submitted, and accepted, in May 2007. Our dossier was completed in June 2007, and promptly sent to Haiti at the end of the month. We signed the referrals for our two darlings at the end of July 2007, which started the processing in Haiti.

In February 2008, we had the pleasure of meeting the director of For His Glory and the director of the orphanage in Haiti, when they were traveling to our area doing some fundraising. They encouraged us to travel with the mission trip in March. Though the trip was only two weeks away, we couldn’t turn down the chance to meet our precious angels. However difficult it was to leave at the end of the week, we’re so blessed with that experience – we wouldn’t trade the time we had with them for anything! We have since traveled to Haiti two other times – once just Lisa, in July 2008, to sign our I-600, and both of us again on a missions/work trip in March 2009.



Our dossier is now in MOI, awaiting approval for passports. We are praying for a speedy exit from MOI, and for the immigration processing, including the birth parents’ interviews, to also go smoothly. This has been a long journey for us, but we wait on the Lord to fulfill His purposes which He’s called us to. We’ve had many trials along the way, but we know that the Lord is working them all for our good (Romans 8:28). The process of Haitian adoptions is neither short nor easy, but we know this will be well worth it in the end. We pray every day for our two children in Haiti, and cannot wait until that day comes for them to bless us and our home with their presence!

Blessings,
Jock & Lisa

Please send contributions for the blog to jodie.eyberg@gmail.com. We'd love your recipes, "how we were called to adopt" stories, etc.!