Snapshot Saturday: Lazy Afternoon

Evie has been a little out of sorts lately (teething?). One nice thing is that she is much more willing to snuggle since she isn't feeling the best. Usually it's hard to get her to sit still for more then a few seconds, let alone cuddle :) The above pic was taken a few days ago when she needed some comfort and ended up falling asleep on my chest. It's hard to beat that feeling right there. I told Kyle I just wanted to stop time and savor this moment as long as I could.

Good Luck Getting to Sleep Tonight

Good Recipe!

I made this soup for dinner last night and it was very tasty! It's one of those great recipes where you can just dump the ingredients in the crock pot in the morning and then forget about it until dinner.

Southwestern Chicken and White Bean Soup
1 T. Olive Oil
1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1 inch pieces
4 cups chicken broth (roughly two 14 oz cans)
2 cups salsa*
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp. group cumin
1 (16 oz) can great northern beans, rinsed and drained
1 (16 oz) can whole kernel corn
1 lg. onion, chopped

1. Heat the oil in a 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and cook until it's well browned, stirring often.
2. Stir the chicken, broth, salsa, garlic, cumin, beans, corn and onion in a 3 1/2-quart slow cooker. Add the chicken.
3. Cover and cook on LOW for 8 to 9 hours or on HIGH for 4 to 5 hours, until the chicken is cooked through.

* This soup will be as hot as the salsa that you use. I usually use mild because Kyle doesn't like much heat.

Very good with warm crusty bread and a green salad!

Another Bathtime Picture

Snapshot Saturday: Bathtime!

The Brevity of Life

Yesterday I found out that one of my old friends from Riverland Community College died. I don't know many details, but I guess she went into the Mayo Clinic in Rochester on Wednesday complaining of a severe migraine and vision problems. They discovered that she had an inoperable brain tumor. To the best of my knowledge, she was put on life support sometime Thursday night and taken off on Friday morning after her family and close friends were able to say their goodbyes.

This took me by surprise to say the least; it all happened so fast. As far as I know, she had no idea about any of this last week, and now her life has ended. What a reminder to me of the brevity of life and the importance of living each day in the light of eternity.

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit” yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin. ~ James 4:13~17

Yesterday and today, the first question of the Heidelberg Catechism has come to my mind several times and provided me comfort.

Q: What is thy only comfort in life and death?

A: That I with body and soul, both in life and death, am not my own, but belong unto my faithful Saviour Jesus Christ; who, with his precious blood, has fully satisfied for all my sins, and delivered me from all the power of the devil; and so preserves me that without the will of my heavenly Father, not a hair can fall from my head; yea, that all things must be subservient to my salvation, and therefore, by his Holy Spirit, He also assures me of eternal life, and makes me sincerely willing and ready, henceforth, to live unto him.

Seven Months!

Our little baby, well actually she isn't so little anymore, turned seven months old yesterday! We are so thankful to the Lord for our baby girl; she truly is the joy of our home.

Lately she has been doing much better with solid food, eating three meals of it most days. Her favorites so far are avocado and sweet potato. She has also tried applesauce, bananas, peas, butternut squash as well as her oatmeal and rice cereal. I've been making her homemade baby food and it has actually been quite fun and satisfying. The other day I loaded the freezer with peas, carrots and papaya. Spinach and corn will be following soon. The ice cube tray method is very handy!

On Monday Evelyn fed herself Cheerios in her high chair for the first time. She really enjoys this; Evie is kind of an independent child, wanting to do everything herself and be involved in everything. She is my little helper. The other day while we were walking she was fussing and fussing and wanting to get out of the stroller; so when we were almost home I took her out and carried her on my hip pushing the stroller. Sure enough, Ev started leaning forward and trying to help me push the stroller. Ah she will be such a good big sister someday (nope I'm not hinting at anything...notice I said "someday").

We know that time will continue to fly by, so Kyle and I are just trying to enjoy everyday with our little girl. It's so fun to watch her curiously looking at everything and learn new things. What a blessing!

Update!

Well we've had a pretty eventful last couple of weeks....I apologize for the lack of updates :) Because I have limited time I'm going to do this update in bullet point form.

* Earlier in this month Jake came to visit us! He stayed for five days and it was tons of fun. Evelyn enjoyed playing/bonding with her "favorite" Uncle Jake (that's what Jake calls himself.)


* About three weeks ago, Kyle's Dad fell off the roof and broke his hip. It was a pretty bad break; he had to be in surgery for four hours to repair it. Evelyn wanted to surprise Grandpa with a visit to lift his spirits, so the two of us made the trip to Fairmont together. Kyle had to stay in Grand Rapids because of classes, but it was nice that Evie and I were able to go. Grandpa Scott was VERY surprised...it was so much fun to see his face when we walked into the living room. Evie was Grandpa's littlest nurse for a few days....I think that she was just the medicine that Grandpa needed :) We also spent a little time visiting family in Austin on the way back, and we were able to go to church at Christ Covenant in La Crosse on Sunday. It was a good trip!

* This last week my Mom and Dad, as well as my brother John, came to visit us for about 36 hours. My Dad had something he had to do for work in Grand Rapids so they decided to turn it into a mini visit. It was fun to show them our apartment and everything...it was the first time that they have been out here since we moved.

* As I'm writing this I'm realizing how many visitors we have had lately. Kyle's brother Matt and his wife Nancy came up this last weekend as well and we had a great time with them!

* Kyle has two midterms this week so he has been studying like crazy. He enjoys every minute of it but it is a lot of work. I tease him that for every 5 pages of reading that he is assigned he reads like 20 extra ones as he follows all of the tangents that come up. Oh I love him :)

* Evelyn and I have really been enjoying the nice weather. The last couple of days we have gone for long walks and looked at the ducks and geese in a pond right by our apartment. She loves being outside! Kyle and I walked to the park with her yesterday. She loved swinging and looking at the brightly colored playground equipment. Kyle was giving her a ride on his shoulders on the way to the park and she puked all over his head...it was very funny :)

* This week Ev has mastered sitting up unassisted! Yay! This makes my life a lot easier!

* Evie's new thing is sticking out her tongue all the time and spiting. She thinks its soooo funny. Secretly Kyle and I do too but we try not to encourage this behavior :)

* Overall we are slowly getting more and more adjusted to life in Grand Rapids. Kyle is getting to know the over guys at seminary a little better which is nice for him. Kyle is finishing up his temp job at the bookstore and continuing to look for jobs for the summer. Please keep that in your prayers! Well I think that this is all for now!