check under the rug

This weekend has been amazing! We had two 60+ degree weather days and the chance to get out of the house.  More about our Saturday later in the week. 

Sunday was a bit hectic.  Mostly because on our way to Community Group at 6:00 p.m. we discovered Mike’s wedding ring was missing.  This usually isn’t “a big deal” because Mike is really good at retracing his steps from a day and can figure out exactly where he left something (which doesn’t happen often).  The slight problem came in when he started to think back over the day:

9:00 left house for church; 12:30 grabbed a quick lunch at Arby’s; 1:00 Mike began cutting wood with Fred and Mark; Katie ran some errands; 2:00 Katie back at house couponing and then leaves for grocery shopping; 3:30 Both make it to Frisbee game (in shorts and t-shirts I might add) with a full load of wood in the back of the truck; 5:00 leave Frisbee to go home to shower; unloaded all wood, Katie drives truck back around house; 6:00 leave house to go to community group ** discovered Mike’s wedding ring was missing**

Needless to say, he had been a few places and the likelihood of ring retrieval was minimal.  Mike did remember that he had his ring on until Frisbee and then took it off and put it on his key chain. So we scoured the car hoping that it had just dropped off the keychain and fell down in the seat.  After much searching with no finding, we decided to go back up to the fields we play frisbee on and look up there because that was the only place we could figure it went missing.  So, at 10:00 p.m., we grabbed flashlights and headed back to church for like the 5th time that day.  No ring. 

I thought at this point there was very little hope of ring recovery.  I did pray that we would find it because even the little things need to be prayed for.  To make a long story short… when I drove the truck around from unloading the wood, I got out of the truck with keys (and ring) and my hands full of other things too.  I then proceeded to the back yard to get a rug off the deck and put it back inside. In that process, the ring must have jumped off the keychain and landed under the rug, because when I went to lift up the rug after hours of searching, there it was!!! Who hides a ring under a rug??

I was almost in tears. Here we were searching high and low (and all over town) thinking Mike had dropped it somewhere in the woods or on the field and it was gone. And, nope, just silly me trying to only make one trip out of the truck (and then get more stuff in my hands) to take into the house.

Luke 15: 8-9 "Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it? And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.'

I’m thankful that it was found. 

Mike’s summation of the events that took place:  =) something was lost, then found to never really have been lost at all =)

updated pictures

Here is what the furnace looks like with its decorative panel! Mike was able to pick it up after work yesterday and install was a breeze. We hopefully will be able to find and install and mantel in the near future.

Have a very happy Friday!

busy beginning to 2011

Welcome back! Ok I guess I have posted a few times since the start of the new year but I haven’t posted much about life around Bishops Bridge and in Tennessee.  This will be a super full post so consider yourself warned. But there will be lots of pictures to make it worth your while =)

item #1

I want to share a picture that Mike took of our new car in the snowy parking lot at work.  A few weeks ago we had a “snow storm” (our house got about 4” maybe..) and Mike’s plant was shut down for 2 days because they had about 9” of snow down there.  When he did go back to work, he took a few pictures of the car in the fluff! and they turned out great!

 

 

item #2.. you TOO can touch your toes

Background story: When stretching, Mike has never (or can’t remember) touched his toes before. He always attributed this to his lack of flexibility or tight hamstrings. 

(on with the story)… We recently came across this blog talking about how to progressively improve to touching your toes.  Mike had to try it to see if it actually worked because he was exactly in this category.  Plus, we have to admit, we were both skeptics.  Within three tries… MIKE TOUCHED HIS FOR THE FIRST TIME!! We couldn’t believe it! He went from barely making it to half way down his shins to all the way to his toes in 3 tries. Here’s some proof!

Also, here is a link to a "Quality" video I took of the event.  It is sideways and not that great but still shows the look on his face when he did it! Seriously, you can do it too!

 

item #3… trip to Clarksville

I went to my sisters this weekend and we had such a great time!! We tackled yet another large project of rearranging/organizing the basement.  She and I both agree that it always felt small, but with a few tweaks of the furniture and it became a huge room again and great for watching DVDs =) We tried it out on the movie Salt.  I took a few pictures of the cute stuff she’s done in her living room as well, just because I liked it.

the remodel VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

item #4… an ode to being “green”

We tackled a major upgrade to our house.  We installed a wood burning stove to help heat the house. It is super awesome and has made a huge difference in how warm our house it! Earlier this year, we had decided to keep the house at a balmy 66 degrees to help cut costs.  It was going ok, but this is way better!! and I’m getting spoiled at it being 74 degrees =)  Here’s the progression:

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks to all of you who helped with the install.  The stove weighs about 400#s so needless to say, even with our new workout program… we couldn’t quite move it ourselves. We also purchased a panel cover that goes around it, but it has not come in yet. It will “cover” up the hole around the stove and just finish off the look. So these “final pictures” are missing the panel as well as a new mantle.  We love it!

item #5.. cute picture

Because there should be a cute picture of the av in every blog post… I will not disappoint.  We are currently in week 3 of a new workout program and part of the “stretching” before the workout includes doing some deep tissue work with a tennis ball.  It’s torture for Avi! … even though she really doesn’t like playing with tennis balls.

Thanks for sharing our lives with us and for reading this whole blog!

Thank you to all who made our trip possible

We just wanted to again express our thanks for those of you who helped us make the journey to Portugal.  We were truly blessed through our experience, learned a ton, grew a lot and were able to share an amazing experience with a group of amazing young people.  Here is a letter we received from ABWE (the organization that we went with):

Dear Friends at West Park,

I am writing to make you aware of the impact of your lavish service of our families at the Western European regional conference. As you know, this once-every-three-year event is designed to encourage these faithful workers who labor in one of our most difficult mission fields. They are often depleted spiritually and emotionally in the long battle of evangelism and church planting. Your sacrifice in being willing to come and work for our youth as well as those who supported you resulted in a huge encouragement to both our youth and parents.

I am including a link (SUPER AWESOME SHORT MOVIE YOU SHOULD WATCH) so you can receive a visual glimpse of the five days we had together. (We are also sending a thank you DVD with this letter.) The youth and children you see enjoying themselves in the DVD are almost universally involved in a small work so this conference presents a unique opportunity to get together with other MKs and enjoy fellowship and a program just for them. The training and speakers are chosen with the special needs of the adults in mind as well. Following are two comments from our missionaries and one from a national partner that will help you understand the impact of your investment for the cause of Christ in the lives of these workers.

Missionary comments:
“Our mission's All-Western European conference was an absolute blessing to us… Our kids can't stop talking about the great time they had with other missionary kids their own age. We were privileged to sit under great preaching and enjoy great fellowship with our fellow western-European missionary friends. God knew how much we needed this time that was a healing time for us as well as a great motivator to refuel us for the task of spreading the gospel in this difficult but needy continent.”

“…the training sessions, worship, preaching, and fellowship (and yes, food!) - The Conference was a slice of heaven for us, very refreshing and uplifting!”

National partner comment:
“We had a truly amazing week in so many ways ... the warmth and acceptance from the people there was just lovely. The meetings were a huge benefit; spiritually we were motivated and at the same time challenged in our own walk these last few months and as a church. The kids loved it; Skye made some friends very quickly and Eoghan enjoyed the kids club, too. Shay enjoyed it after the initial day but soon got into the swing of it and even Lachlan by the end of the week had stopped screaming when we dropped him off but was giving the leaders high 5's Lol! So it was the first time I've ever been to a conference and actually got to relax child free and enjoy hearing and learning! It really was a week that God spoke to us and we're so grateful for it.
May the Lord Himself bless and encourage you as you have encouraged us.

Yours for the Lord of the Harvest,
Jack Shiflett
Area Director for Europe and the Middle East – ABWE
jack@abwe.org
Office +1(717) 909-2391

Feel free to check out the link that’s included in the letter.  It is a great compilation of all that went on during our week in Portugal.

quality time together

I thought I would share a picture with you of Avi and I spending some quality time together.  Mike and I had just come home and I was sleepy so I layed down.  That’s when Avi came up on the sofa and decided she needed some “mom and me” time.  =)

At least she didn’t drool on me!!

Butternut Squash Soup

This week I decided to try a second attempt at Butternut Squash Soup.  The first time was good, but I found a new recipe and thought… maybe this one will be even better!

Now… please note, I typically use recipes as ingredient lists so I’ll write what I did for my soup, then write the recipe.  Hopefully this will help both types of wonderful cooks out there!

Squash Apple Soup (Katie’s Version)

• 4 left over apple slices from lunch (w/ peel)
• 1/4 small onion (already sliced in freezer.. I did not chop further)
• 4 twirls olive oil
• 1/2 tsp garlic (the kind in the fridge in the jar already chopped)
• 1 large butternut squash, peeled and cubed
• chicken broth (until all veggies are covered) (I had some in a box and then for the rest I added 2 cups water and 2 bullion cubes)
• salt/pepper to taste
• dash of nutmeg
• 2 dashes of ground red pepper
• **heavy cream or milk (maybe 1/4 cup)

1. Put the first 5 ingredients in a pot on med-high.
2. Add some of the broth and allow the veggies on bottom to sauté slightly (apples/onions), maybe 5 minutes
3. Add all seasonings
4. Add remainder of broth and allow to boil (at a medium pace) until squash is soft (you might have to turn down the stove), maybe 25 minutes
5. Using an immersion blender, puree all soup until there are no more chunks. If its too thick, add more broth or some water (the soup will have plenty of flavor)
6. Add just a touch of heavy cream or milk and stir to incorporate.
7. Enjoy warm!! (or I guess cold but I’m not a fan of cold soup)

I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I have! I’m having some of the leftovers again for lunch today and am super excited!  It would be good with more apple in it, but I didn’t have any more.

Cooking Light: Squash Apple Soup

• 3 celery ribs, chopped
• 1 large apple, peeled and chopped
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1/2 tsp. poultry seasoning
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 2 cans (14 oz each) chicken broth, divided
• 2 pkg (12 oz each) frozen cooked winter squash, thawed
• *salad croutons and grated Parmesan Cheese, optional

1. In a large saucepan, sauté the celery, apple and onion in oil and better until tender.  Stir in the garlic, poultry seasoning, salt and pepper; cook 1 minute longer.
2. In a blender, combine 1 cut broth and the vegetable mixture; cover and process until smooth.  Return to pan; add squash and remaining broth.  Heat through. Service with croutons and cheese if desired.
3. Nutrition Facts: (w/o croutons or cheese) 1 cup = 97 calories, 4 g fat (1 g sat. fat); 7mg cholesterol, 620 mg sodium; 15 g carb; 4 g fiber; 2 g protein

A wonderful Christmas

I know there has been a slight drought with the posting lately, but when you drive 1800+ miles … hopefully you’ll understand.

We started out our Christmas at home in TN opening presents from each other.  I got some moneys to spend, a super awesome green underarmor warm weather shirt, and some sweet “glo-mits” (the fingerless gloves with the mitten flap that goes over!) (pronounced… glah-mits).  Mike got a new workout program, some clothes and flips of course and a triathlete magazine. 

We then traveled to North Carolina to spend actual Christmas with my mom (and that side of the family) and my aunt/grammie.  We had a great time Christmas eve at Aunt Donna’s house.  We ate breakfast for dinner which is totally a favorite. The dogs got to play in the pond and get totally dirty, then slept the rest of the day.  I got some awesome rain boots which I love and cute pink workout shorts! Mike got a sweet circular saw and bike jersey and Kristen got a stoplight =)

Christmas Eve (and the green rain boots) VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

We got to spend a little time with my college roommate.. Jenny! and her boyfriend Rob =) We Grayson and then let the dogs play together.  AND we got to meet Rob =) Great pic Jenny.  Love you! and you too Rob and even like Grayson.

introducing grayson (and Rob) VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

We then had Christmas and the day after with Mom and family!  AND 8-9” OF SNOW!!! It was the first white Christmas in over 60 years! Mike and I both got some awesome things… clothes, monies, super awesome flip flop rug, dog seat covers (so Avi can ride in the car… and then you can ride in the car w/o getting all hairy!! yeah!) and much more! And yes … Mike did shovel snow in his flip flops =) The whole family got involved playing with the Wii Just Dance and it was hysterical to watch!! All the men did amazing =) even pops!

… it’s so fluffy!!! VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

We even got to take a lovely family photo =) Aaron even made an “appearance”

Mike and I then headed out to celebrate the new year with his family in Michigan.  We had a great time playing Wii, XboX Kinect and walking on water (albeit frozen =) ) We got to see all the work Adam and Kelly have put into Adam’s house… meet Ellie (the newest 4-legged addition to the family), play with the growing Mia, make a sweet gingerbread train, dance with the dogs on the ice, and laugh a whole lot =) We even went to the Bodies Exhibit and saw how amazing God has created each of us.  If you get a chance to go… DO IT! It’s totally worth it.

oh to be kids again VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

 

 

 

 

And to finish out the year we took a family picture =)

 

 

 

 

 

The entire album (including videos) can be found here.  Make sure to check it out =) Avi riding in a wagon on the ice, competitions at the new years party at church, and xbox kinect gaming. (the videos are the “pictures” in the album)