Another Update!

The update is going to be short this week, Jake (my brother) just got here and I should probably be spending time with him and not my computer :) He will be visiting us until Thursday! It's nice to have him around...just like old times.

Kyle is over his cold and feeling back to normal. We are thankful for that!

Kyle's Mom left on Tuesday, we had a great time having her around. On Monday night she baby sat Evie so that Kyle and I could go out on a date. It was the first date by ourselves since Evelyn was born. We went to "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" which Kyle LOVED. I actually thought it was good as well; although it was super long. After the movie we went out to dinner and spent some time talking; we had a great time!

Kyle got a temporary (4 week) job working at the seminary bookstore! That is a huge answer to prayer! At least having a temp job will buy us some more time (literally) for Kyle to find a regular job.


Evelyn is becoming much more mobile, rolling all over the place! She is very close to sitting on her own. Evie LOVES playing with toys, singing and running errands with me. It's so fun to see her taking everything in when she is in new surroundings. She smilies at everyone!

Well that's all for now; check in next week :)

Mexican Thursday!!!

As I mentioned on a previous post, we have Mexican Thursday every week at the Borg residence. Here is a snapshot of the festivities tonight :)

Evelyn's Photo Shoot

I think that Evie looks like Grandpa Scott in the above photo :)
I love this one...
Ah...this is the one we chose for our package and her official 6 month pic.

Here's the Update!

Wow this week has flown by! Not a lot has happened in our lives this week, but nevertheless I'll give a short update :) On Sunday night Kyle came down with a pretty bad cold (he told me he was on his deathbed). He was in pretty rough shape for a few days and is just now starting to feel like his old self. Evelyn and I are thankful that he is still alive :)

The hunt for a job continues....Kyle filled out a few more applications this week.

We had a great time at the new young couple's fellowship at church last Saturday night. It was really nice to get out and spend some time getting to know people from church. We REALLY like Harvest OPC and are starting to feel more "at home" there.

Later today we are taking Evie to Sears to get her 6 month pictures taken, I'm super excited! Hopefully she will smile for the camera so we can get some good shots. It shouldn't be too hard she is an extremely happy baby but we will she how she does :)

Kyle's mom has been in Grand Rapids visiting since Wednesday. It has been tons of fun having her here. On Thursday we took Evie swimming at her hotel and she had a really good time. I thought she would be scared but she did very well in the water. By the end she was kicking her legs and "swimming" back and forth from Mom to Dad to Grandma. She looked super cute in her little pink suit with butterflies on it :)

This morning we had our first annual Valentine's Day brunch complete with heart shaped oatmeal pancakes, eggs, bacon and hash browns. Kyle laughs at me, but I really like traditions, I think they are super fun for kids. We are just starting to develop our own little family traditions. My personal favorite is Mexican Thursday; every Thursday night I make some sort of Mexican food for dinner (tacos, enchiladas, burritos, etc) and Kyle, as the head of our household, gets to wear the special sombrero and poncho. It's great! If anyone has fun tradition ideas please feel free to leave a comment :)

Classes continue to go well for Kyle; he really is in his element. Much of his time is spent reading for class. He gets assigned a TON of reading but he loves every second of it! I hope you are all having a great Valentine's Day; please check in again next week for the next installment of the Borg Family Updates :)

How precious is your steadfast love, O God! The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings. They feast on the abundance of your house, and you give them drink from the river of your delights. For with you is the fountain of life; in your light do we see light. Oh, continue your steadfast love to those who know you, and your righteousness to the upright of heart! ~ Psalm 36:7~10

Weekly Update!

Well this week was pretty uneventful. Kyle applied for six more jobs on Monday; hopefully one of those will be a hit. Because he is still unemployed, Kyle decided to pick up another class (Eschatology) in order to get a few more credits hammered out this semester.

Evie is continuing to do better with solid food; this week we introduced sweet potatos and avacado! She REALLY liked the avacado, but wasn't too thrilled with the sweet potato. I've decided to make homemade baby food for Evelyn as much as I can. It's super easy, and I've actually had tons of fun learning how to prepare and freeze it. I like knowing that she is getting fresh fruits and vegetables rather than the canned stuff; it actually saves money and I'm sure it tastes better too!

Tonight we are going to a potluck at Harvest OPC for the new young couples of the church. That should be a good time of fellowship! It will be nice once we have made some friends here, both Kyle and I have commented to each other that we feel like we've been kind of anti social since moving to Grand Rapids. It will be nice to get out and socialize tonight.

On Wednesday Kyle's mom is coming to visit for about a week. She has a couple continuing education conferences in Grand Rapids so it worked out great for her to come visit. We are really excited for her to come; It will be great for her to spend some quality time with Evie (and with us).

It is beautiful here today! It is much warmer and I actually can kind of see the sun. Kyle and I are sitting on the couch right now with our patio door open enjoying the fresh air while Ev is napping in her crib. It has been a great day!

Well that's all for today; tune in next Saturday for the next Borg Family update!

Homemade Taco Seasoning

So this is kind of a random post.... Cooking/meal planning is one of the areas that I am trying to become more proficient in as I learn how to be a better homemaker. One of my favorite things to do when Evie is napping is to look for new recipes online and read cooking tips. Well the other day I found this recipe for taco seasoning. I was amazed that you can actually make your own. Now that might seem like common sense to most of you, but I was pretty excited. We tested it out tonight and it was very tasty :) I thought I would share the recipe with you in case anyone wanted to give it a try.

• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper

This makes the equivalent of a packet of taco seasoning. I added a teaspoon of cornstarch in order to make it stick to the meat better. Also, after browning and draining the hamburger/turkey burger I added 2/3 c. of water to the meat and seasoning mixture then simmered on low for a few minutes. Basically its the same old directions :)

Michigan

Well we have been living in Grand Rapids for a whole month! Things are going really well here; Kyle started seminary classes this last week and he is LOVING it. I haven't seen him this excited in a long time; it's a lot of fun to watch. He is even excited about the 300 pages of reading that he was assigned this week. Kyle is taking Soteriology, Practice Preaching, Homiletics II and Greek I this semester. He still hasn't found a job here, but we are trusting in our faithful God to provide for our needs and to open up the right job for Kyle in His timing. We would greatly appreciate your continued prayers on this matter.

We have been attending an OPC church in the area that we love. The preaching is incredibly sound, applicable and encouraging; also the people are VERY friendly and welcoming. The first week that we visited we were invited over to lunch within three minutes of walking in the door. This church is a lot bigger than we are used to with about 500 regular attenders! The size will be a little bit of an adjustment, but we are starting to feel at home there. There are A LOT of children in this church; many families have 7+ kids! Evie will have many friends there :), as well as begin her life with solid reformed teaching (we will be here for awhile). We have started sitting in the new members class, and we have greatly appreciated how seriously they take membership and discipline.

Evelyn is doing very well. Upon moving here we decided that it was time to "break her will" and make her sleep in her crib at night (she had been sleeping with us out of convenience and because lack of space in our old apartment). After just a couple nights of crying for about an hour or so she quickly realized that she would not win this battle and submitted to her parents authority :) Ever since then she has been sleeping through the night wonderfully (11~12 hours) which is great news for us! We have also been working on getting her on a routine schedule with more consistent meals and naps. I think that this has really helped her to know what to expect and feel secure. Evelyn had her first rice cereal last night which was fun! I think more of it went on her face, bib and high chair then in her tummy, but hey we are just starting :) Evie truly is the joy of our home. One of my favorite parts of the day is listening to her "talk" in her crib when she wakes up in the morning and then going in to get her and seeing her smiley face. I weighed her the other night and she is around 16 1/2 pounds; she is definitely thriving.

I have been enjoying life as a stay at home wife/mother; I can't imagine anything else that I would rather do! Our apartment here is great, we have tons of closet space, a dishwasher, a room for Ev, as well as laundry facilities in our building (all things we were lacking before). There is soooooo much snow here! I thought I was used to snow having grown up in Minnesota, but this is ridiculous. It's beautiful, but many days I'm tempted to just stay inside :) Also, we have been informed that it's pretty much always cloudy here ( I guess because of the lake?). I hadn't really missed the sun until we visited Kyle's brother Matt and his wife Nancy in Indiana last weekend and realized what we had been missing. Oh well, there are worse things :)

Well I think that's all I have to report for now; I will try to be more diligent in updating the blog! We miss everyone in La Crosse and think of you often!