It's Crock Pot Tuesday

Thank You to all of those who have and do serve. Also, Thank You to the families who stand by their loved ones!

Today I made good old fashioned stew with semi homemade bread. I bought frozen dough. :) The recipe is pretty easy. I cut up a roast (cheaper than stew meat). I coated each piece with a flour, seasoning salt, garlic mixture. Meat goes in the crock pot 1st then potatoes and carrots on top. I then put a can of beef broth in a bowl and mix in 2 packs of onion soup mix then added it to the crock pot. It took 2 cans of beef broth to fill the pot. I prefer to use broth as it gives the stew a more robust flavor. If I can't use a full 3rd can I use water to finish filling the top just covering the carrots. Put it in the pot get home and it is done :) Abi, who is a particular eater, loved it and it is a Josh fav. Now just to figure out the next few weeks so I don't make the same dish over and over.

More Halloween pics as promised.

So here are a few of the good pics we got. Abi was just not ready for this sort of thing. We got to the church and Abi fell apart. Just about every time her feet hit the floor her tears started to fall. All told we only spent about 20 min and most of that was fighting with her. However, here are (unedited) Halloween pics!!

Rain Rain Go AWAY!!

It has been rainy and just no fun for about 5 days. I am done with it. Rain makes me feel sad and lazy. We had plans to bring Abi to the park for some good old family bonding but, then we opened the door to find dark scary skies and water pouring down. So sad and our plans so perfectly ruined. In more of a gripe daylight savings is the worst ever! I go to work in the daylight and come home to blackness.

Okay enough whining. Things to be thankful for: Abi is now happily playing with a counting pig and showing me her amazing motor skills. We have had a good afternoon. While Abi napped I watched a movie (Journey to the Center of the Earth), caught up on some blogs, and checked out the posts on Two Peas. Basically Abi and I have been just relaxing and spending some quality time together. She doesn't get enough of that these days.

In the midst of reading blogs I have decided to set forth some themes for this blog. I am not the most creative so I could only come up with Crop Pot Tuesdays. Tuesday's are our one of our busiest days and we are often grabbing a quick fast food dinner on the way to home group. I would like to prevent that slippery slope so I am going to do a crop pot meal every Tuesday... Now to find recipes!!

Halloween Pics

Here are some pictures (Unedited) before the night got ugly. I will post the story later.

I'm BACK!!!!!!!!

What it has been 2 months! Oh no it has been almost 4! End of July to November WOW I am horrible. Well let’s see now that we are begining to get a handle on life let's catch everyone up…
August—our friends ran away to New Zealand. Yep you know who you are! So, thus August began the month(s) of adjustment. We moved into a new place, I started a new job, Abi started day care, our friends ditched us for paradise, so on and so forth. Overall, the month is a blur and all I remember is it is over.
September—We took a bunch of students to a conference IT WAS EXCELLENT! It spurred them into some amazing acts (like starting prayer groups at both the MS and HS). As a family took a spontaneous day trip to Walla Walla. It was nice to see family again we have not been there since early July and we won’t have time to go back until Thanksgiving. Ha that is only a few weeks away now!
October—My job sent me to San Diego! It was fun but I got sick the day I left. Diagnosis was strep throat. Yep no fun. I was able to see my Uncle Chuck and Aunt Diane while I was there! Of course that was after I had been on meds for 24 hours. I was thoughtful and caring to my family but those poor people on the plane(s) SORRY. Probably should not have gone but work had already paid for it. I had to go. I was able to meet Aunt Diane’s mom too while I was there. She was amazing. I hope I get to spend more time around her in the future. I told them I am going to work on getting my parents down there. Hint Hint Parents! The conference was good too. Okay kind of an afterthought but it really was a good conference. Before this trip I had never been to CA, never rode on a plane by myself, and I had never had strep so the whole thing was an experience. I can honestly say I don't EVER want strep again. The other new stuff was fine.
Last Wednesday Abigail got a nasty rash! Unfortunately the rash followed a night of her throwing up numerous times. My poor kiddo was just! The worried mom I am I called Abi’s pediatrician immediately and told him Abi was throwing up! He told me just to give her fluids in small amounts and that stomach bugs were going around. Thank you Dr. Mike for taking my calls and for your patience with my moments. The next morning (when she woke with the gnarly rash) we called the Pediatric office and spoke with Dr. A (Mike wasn’t there *sad*). I described the rash and what happened the night before she said that Abi was probably having an allergic reaction and to give her Benadryl. I as mom did not freak out at all… Okay who am I kidding I was freaked! I kept asking “are you sure” “how long do I wait before I rush her to the hospital and when do you need to see her” “what else do I look for” that went on and on for a bit. Dr. A was great and said she is confident it is an allergic reaction but if I want to bring her in I can. We didn’t bring her in and I sent Josh for Benadryl. After 30-40 minutes the rash was lessoned and by an hour it was gone. Josh and I are not sure what got her sick but we think it may be the huckleberry popcorn we fed her Tuesday. I know she should not of had popcorn but she liked it. Looking back on the week I keep thinking I didn't take any pictures of that rash! It looked like someone had poored water on paper only the water was red and the paper was Abi's skin. What was I thinking not documenting this event on film words do not give justice that a picture could have. Oh well. I will post about Halloween later and that should catch everyone up... my fingers are hurting. Maybe if i didn't wait almost 4 months to post. Oh the thoughts to ponder.

I got the job! I am excited, anxious, sad and scared all at the same time. For those of you who are reading this and thinking she applied for a job? I applied to work for the county as a Victum/Witness Specialist. One component of the job is working with victums/witness's of crime and walking them through the trial process the other component will be PR for the Prosecutors office. The job is in my degree field which is amazing and the job has many challenging and exciting components. Josh and I have been praying for this job for a long time and we knew that God would continue to take care of us with or without it. I will continue to clean Palouse Pediatrics and hopefully I will be able to continue my internship with the church. For those of you who are reading this and thinking that is too much. Cleaning the office happens after bug is in bed so two nights a week I loose a little sleep oh well. As for the internship it will go towards childcare on Sunday nights during youth group and honestly we will continue to do the things we do or more if the new guy needs it paid or not so the paid is just a bonus. A plus to the new job is that Josh and I will be commuting together. The down side is that buggy will enter daycare on Monday. The gal we will have watch her comes with amazing recommendations which gives me a great deal of peace. While at the same time I am just not excited about leaving her at all let alone full time. I am fairly certain that bug will thrive in any environment and we are praying that being around more kids who talk will help her with her speech.

Mission Trip fun

And we are back... well actually we have been back for a week. I went to World Changers in Casper, WY. My Mommy came to help Josh take care of bug. THANK YOU MOM! The AC went out in the bus so it was a roasting oven but the beast got us to or destination and back home. We stayed at a KOA in Bozeman MT on the way to Casper and on the way back. It was a really nice campground. It had a hot springs right next door so on the way back from Casper most of us went and enjoyed it. The Junior High we stayed at was okay. We learned that it was falling off the hill so they are in the process of building a new one. Yep that is right it is sliding off the hill. Doesn't that just give you a safe feeling? We spent the week wondering how many world changers would it take to push it over the hill. Although impossible it was a fun pondering. The showers left a bit to be desired. They were midget height and only drizzled so a cup was a necessary shower item. However, they were warm and there was more than one of them. The weather was good. It rained almost every day but generally after 4 when we had already left the sites. I was able to go visit an old friend (well she is not old but you get the idea). April picked me up and we had coffee at a local coffee house. It was fun reminiscing and catching up. Unfortunately, I burnt the crud out of my tongue it hurt the rest of the week leaving me with a fear of drinking anything hot.
God has really been moving in my life the last couple of weeks. It all started last Monday (at WC) and has continued. He has given me some direction and is placing me and consequently Josh in an interesting place in life. I applied to seminary for the fall term so we will see what happens there. I believe God is working and has set us out a plan for the next two years but as always we must wait and pray to make sure that is true. I have this inherent fear of failing that God is also working with so prayer that I take this leap would be gratefully appreciated. As always Josh is supportive of whatever God calls us too (sometimes I wish he wasn't but I do love him for it). I read the book "If You Want to Walk On Water You Have to Get Out of the Boat" by John Ortberg and strongly recommend it however, I send out a caution as well: don't read if you don't want to change some things. I will hopefully post some pics of the trip and of course my burnt tongue this next week. We are headed down to Walla Walla to see the fam for the 4th. Hope ya all have a great Independence Day.