Snow Day

I can't begin to tell you how excited I was about all the snow. Honestly, I thought we were only going to get two inches. You know how the weathermen are. But I am so glad I was wrong! Here is Ari all ready for the snow. We had to make a trip over to work and surprisingly all the roads were clear! I just had to dig out our driveway during his nap.

Going out in the weather made Ari very sleepy! Here he is crashed on the floor taking a nap. Notice the black blob to the right of him. That is our cat, Mrs. Meowgi. (Not to be confused with Mr. Miyagi from Karate Kid). She did however acquire that name from her mad skills in martial arts. But that is another story. Needless to say, she has adjusted quite nicely to then new addition in our family. And since Annie is a jealous dog, she had to get in on the camera action as well.
Speaking of Annie, she has a few stuffed squeaky animals that she loves. From day one she has always been able to tear into them in a matter of minutes just to get to the squeaker. Well there were two that she has had for quite some time, probably at least a year that she hasn't been able to get to. That is...until yesterday. Here is her poor bunny...

And here is Annie afterwards! You can't probably see it very well but the squeaker is laying in front of her. Gotta love her licking her chops! It must have been a fairly tasty bunny.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot to mention that my baby is already three months! Crazy how time flies when you're enjoying it.

Weekend Festivities

Ari went to his first Pacer's game Friday night. AJ's bank has a suite and his boss invited us to join him and some clients. It was great. Talk about getting spoiled for free! Dinner, snacks, and dessert was provided. Dinner was fantastic because they had hot dogs! (For those of you who don't know, I have a love for hot dogs.) AJ told me that when it was time for dessert, it will feel like we are straight out of a Harry Potter movie. And he was right! The servers come around with a cart load of desserts, just for your choosing. Multiple different cakes, jelly beans, gummy bears, cookies, brownies, you name it. Too many to choose from, but since they had chocolate I had to try. (I have a rule of thumb that if it isn't ice cream or something chocolaty, then it isn't worth the calories!) I'm very picky about my desserts because they have to be worth it. The night ended with a close win by the Pacers. Ari loved it but could only stand to party until he couldn't keep his eyes open any longer. 

Saturday night we went up to Fishers to visit with some friends from Butler. Even though Laura and Shawn have lots of furniture in their big house, everyone decided to crash on the floor. It was so much fun just to catch up on everyone's lives. The majority of them are finishing up their last semester in Pharmacy school so I don't see much of them. After graduation in May, most of them will not live in Indy anymore. So sad. :( I guess that will make for some nice road trips though.

Here is Laura and Shawn with Ari. They are the only other couple that is married from my group of friends at Butler. (So far, anyway. There are some engaged right now.) Hopefully Ari will have a little friend to play with soon!

Sunday was nice and relaxing because AJ didn't have to go to work on Monday. Thank you MLK. We ran some errands and finished putting up the blinds in our house. I am so glad that task is done! Now we can't have any peeping toms. (Not to mention any names, JW)!

Matthew

I've heard the stories of Jesus performing  miracles over and over, but never really stopped to think what that would have been like to actually witness it back in the day. Can you imagine seeing someone be raised from the dead? or seeing a paralytic able to walk again? There are so many more and all jaw-dropping if you really think about what that would have been like to see with your own eyes. No, I don't need to see to believe. But what an impact that had on so many people. Surprisingly, not all good either.

There is one story in particular that my mind keeps coming back to. Mostly because it bothers me. In Matthew 8:28, Jesus heals two demon-possessed men. In verse 31, "The demons begged Jesus, 'If you drive us out, send us into the herd of pigs.' So he did..."and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and died in the water".

I don't fully understand or comprehend what it would be like to see a demon possessed person, but to think that even the pigs would rather die than to have the demons possess them says a lot.

What do you suppose the people who witnessed this thought? Maybe some kind of relief? Gratitude? Might I add that the demon-possessed men "were so violent that no one could pass that way." (v 28) 

Well, shockingly "Those tending the pigs ran off, went into the town and reported all this, including what had happened to the demon-possessed men."

Here's the part I don't understand... "Then the whole town went out to meet Jesus. And when they saw him, they pleaded with him to leave their region." (v 33, 34)

In the same sense that the pigs would rather die than have demons, the people would rather have their pigs than Jesus!

Oh the sad irony.

Can you imagine anything greater than having Jesus?!

Not at all.

But unfortunately we let worldly things distract us. It's time to let the "pigs" in our life go.

Ritz Chicken Casserole

I've only made this recipe once but it turned out really good. I think we will start making this on a regular basis.

These are the ingredients you need:
6 chicken breasts
2 small cans cream of chicken soup
1 tube Ritz crackers
8 oz. sour cream with onion
1 tsp. celery seed
1 1/2 stick butter

Directions:
Boil breasts until tender; remove skin and bones and cut into small pieces. (I always buy the boneless, skinless so that saved some time.)

Butter the casserole dish and put chicken in it. (Not the 1 1/2 stick, that's for later)

Mix soup and sour cream with onion in separate bowl, then spread all over chicken.

Crush crackers in ziploc bag then add celery seed.

Spread over soup.

Melt butter and pour over all evenly.

Bake 20 to 30 minutes at 350 degrees until hot and bubbly. 

Hint: This is a very rich dish - lower calorie butter or imitation sour cream may be substituted without altering flavor.

The picture doesn't do it justice.

Another New Year

Happy late New Year!

It's amazing how fast time goes by. It seems like yesterday I was still in college. They say once you have kids it goes even faster. I can imagine!

2008 was a great year. There were a lot of firsts for us: first year in our house, first wedding anniversary, first child. Those are the major ones anyway. 2009 will also be great, but no major changes foreseen.

I have not made any resolutions, as I don't believe they are necessary. I believe in setting personal goals for yourself, but I think that should happen on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. I do suppose that some people feel that a new year gives them a fresh start. I can respect that.

Here are a few things on my goal list:

Try new recipes

Eat out less

Only buy necessary things

Keep up with my quiet time

Be encouraging to others

Spend time getting to know people better

Sit with different people each week at church (this was AJ's idea and I like it!--so look out people)

Work out regularly (anyone care to join?)

So the list is always a work in progress and there are others to name but I'll spare you.

Instead, here are some pictures from the last few weeks.

This hat was supposed to be a santa hat, but for some reason it just made him look like the Pope! He didn't like it too much and I don't blame him!

Breakfast Bake Pictures

Here are the pictures of the Breakfast Bake...