Way tougher than me

Aaron and I went to the women's hockey game last night. One of our leaders for AIA (Athletes in Action) is on the team. It's amazing to watch her and the other women play. I was just amazed. And she scored a goal! I think I'm so amazed by their atheltic talent because I am so lacking in that ability. The other 2 women I work with are runners, and again, it's awesome to see their gifts and talents in their sport. I continue to be amused by the irony of where God has placed me - doing ministry in my area of greatest weakness. But that's usually how He designs it, I guess :).

And since I was talking about food in my last post, here's another idea to try. Aaron and I made cornbread pancakes yesterday which we'll have every now and then. You just take the little Jiffy cornbread box, and on the side it gives the instructions for how to alter the recipe to make pancakes/waffles. If you like cornbread, these are really good.

Here's what's "in" at the Joneses...

• Soup - I made my 4th soup in the last 2 weeks for supper tonight. I've just been hungry for soup with how cold it's been.
• My crock pot - cooking above mentioned soups in the crock pot - nice to have dinner ready when it's time to eat!
• Monk season 5 - an excellent show if you haven't seen it. We're borrowing the set from our co-workers. Since there isn't much on lately, it's been a good alternative.
• The Biggest Loser - the show we are actually watching/taping each week. I'm always amazed by the transformation by the end of the season.
• Ice crusted inside the windows - again REALLY cold and we're learning we have air leaks...
• Ticket to Ride - a great game by the makers of Settlers of Catan if you've heard of that. I don't like Settlers but I love Ticket. Aaron and I play this often, especially when we're between semesters and home more evenings.
• Lifting weights - Aaron and I go to the Y on Monday and Wednesday mornings and lift together. He's a good coach, and I'm getting stronger :). Also, a bonus, there's an awesome guy named Dick who is retired and his job is to go around the Y and talk to people while they work out. He's got a booming voice and always says stuff like "Can I help you with that?" and point to the speed buttons on the treadmill. And if it's a Monday, he'll ask if any of the "younger" people (I count in that apparently) have had a wild weekend, but if I've had a wild weekend, I doubt I'd be at the Y at 6:30... My first morning there this fall he had a shirt on that said "I get paid to talk". It was great :). I wish you could meet him.

That's all I can think of at the moment. But I'm including the recipe for my favorite soup (it's at least in my top 3). It's pretty healthy, REALLY good, and quite filling :).

Pizza Soup:
2 – 14 ½ oz. cans crushed tomatoes
2 - 10 ¾ oz. cans condensed tomato soup, undiluted
2 ½ C. water
3 ½ oz. sliced pepperoni, quartered
1 med. Sweet red pepper, chopped
1 med. Green pepper, chopped
1 C. sliced fresh mushrooms
2 garlic cloves, minced
½ tsp. rubbed sage
½ tsp. dried basil
½ tsp. dried oregano
Salt and pepper to taste
Garlic Break
Shredded Mozzarella cheese

Simmer together until veggies are tender. Serve with garlic bread and cheese. You can also prepare like French onion soup with bread on top, topped with cheese and broiled. This cooks up great in a crock pot. Also, you can substitute V-8 for the amount of liquid in the tomato soup and water – about 40 oz. of V-8, and it doesn't taste any different. I haven’t tried Turkey pepperoni yet, that’s the next thing to try.

Baby It's Cold Outside!

Wow, the weather this past weekend was enough to take your breath away. I know most of you have been experiencing the same. We went to the grocery store on Friday after work so we could just stay home over the weekend. I had to meet someone on Saturday, and we went to church on Sunday, but otherwise we stayed cozy at home. On Saturday we turned up the music and cleaned the crazy. It felt good to get the house in order. That's always the best feeling to be in your just-cleaned house knowing you've bought a little time until you have to do it again :).

Also, so sad about the Packer game yesterday. Yes, I am first and foremost a Bears fan, but I live in Wisconsin and married a Packer fan and so we cheer for them as well. We had students over to watch the game (about 15 or so came plus our staff team), and if you could have heard the roar when the Giants missed that field goal with 4 seconds left. Oh, and we also hooked up the video projector that we use for our weekly meetings and watched the game in a 5 foot by 5 foot picture on our basement wall :). Can I just say again how grateful I am (we are) for this house. It is such a blessing to have the room to have students over. I've just loved it.

Classes begin tomorrow - it was good to see the students last night and today. We met with our student leaders to get some planning done today. I'll keep you posted on how the start of the semester goes!

Birthday Trip

So here's my 3 best friends from high school. We were pretty inseparable. And even with jobs and husbands and kids, we continue to get together whenever we can and decided that this year, since we all turn shmlirty - oh, my hand must've slipped :) - we should do a celebratory trip. And because one of us is pregnant, and we'll be getting Jee in a few months, sooner was better than later. This past weekend we went into Chicago together and had a great time! Mostly, we went out to eat and shopped - all in all a good time, I think! So happy birthday ladies!

Update on Ben

Thanks for praying for Ben. He wasn't doing well at all heading into this past weekend. He hadn't eaten in a week and was deteriorating. But then Elizabeth reported on Monday that he got up, ate, and was walking around the house. Pretty miraculous, I'd say! I was so excited to read that. So thanks for praying, and I'll keep you updated.

Now we wait

Hi! Well it's been a long time since I've posted! We had a great Christmas with our families. From there we went up to our Christmas conference (TCX - Twin Cities Experience) which is a 4 day conference in Minneapolis. We had 70 students from the campus go - the most we've ever had! It was an amazing time. There were moments when the presence of the Lord was so sweet. It's a great time (for staff and students) to connect with the Lord and has always been one of my favorite things in the year.

On our way up to the conference, we stopped at our adoption agency to drop off the paperwork to officially start the process to adopt Jee. As far as I can tell, the paperwork should have arrived in Korea on or near the 1st. So I'm starting our 12-14 week wait time there - we have 1 week done :).

Also, I had asked for prayer for Ben a little while ago. Here's a recent update from their blog:
"We have all been sick with a flu like virus. Ben is really sick. His o2 [oxygen] level is in the low 50s. He says that he can't see again and that he is scared. He hasn't eaten anything in three days. He just sleeps all day. Please pray for him to feel better and to see better again."
If you could continue to pray for little Ben, I would greatly appreciate it, and I know his family would as well.