Waffles and Spaghetti

This past fall, we began leading a new young married's community life group at our church. Each month we have one night of study followed the next week by a game night. Then another study night and then one week off. Each week we have supper together and one person shares their life story, along with how they came to know Christ and about their decision to follow Him.

We started studying "That The World May Know" by Ray Vander Laan. Very good video series to help you understand the Bible by learning more about the culture of the time it was written. There is nothing like having a Biblical scholar like Vander Laan talk about history and guide you through the historical sites and explain the importance of those Biblical sites and how the Jewish context affects the Scriptures. Very eye opening!

Starting this evening, we switched gears and are going to learn about marriage. How to make marriage "work". Most of these couples just got married this past year. A couple have been married a little longer, but still, all young couples. We've been married almost 35 years - and these "kids" are mostly in their 20's.
We are using the book:

The basis of the book is that men and women process life very differently. "In this refreshing and humorous look at relationships, Bill and Pam Farrel explain why a man is like a waffle (each element of his life is in a separate box), why a woman is like a plate of spaghetti (everything in her life touches everything else), and how the differences can work".

So it was appropriate that we have waffles for supper tonight! Kathy Beverlin's Belgian waffle recipe*. Waffles with lots of different toppings.....

German sausage (from the Yoder Mennonites), strawberries, bananas, blueberries, whipped cream, scrambled eggs, eggs over easy, peanut butter, syrup, ice-cream and chocolate chips.

This was a new one for me - Kristin put peanut butter on her waffle and topped that with syrup!

But look at Andy's waffle.

Look closely!

It had everything on it! Oh my!

We look forward to growing closer as a group, as couples, and closer to our Lord this year. Just as being a Christian means walking through life with Christ by our side, going through the hard times and the good times with Him, so too we walk with our spouses by our side. The good times, the tough times. Often couples who have been together for years begin to look like each other, can often know what the other one is thinking, can finish eachother's sentences. So, the longer we are in relationship with Christ, hopefully we become more like Him. Hopefully people see the resemblance. And when we don't, how forgiving and loving He is! And we need to be forgiving and loving of our spouses when they don't meet our expectations or when they fail.

When we finish this book in May, we will have to have a spaghetti supper!

*Kathy's Begian Waffles

3 eggs, beaten

1 cup milk

1/2 cup melted butter

1 T. vanilla

Mix all together.

2 cups flour

1/2 t. salt

1 T. baking powder

2 t. sugar

Mix and add to wet ingredients.

Bake in waffle iron.

This makes about 5 BIG waffles. I had to quadruple it to feed all of us.

Blueberry Croissant Puff & Sausage Brunch Casserole

This is a plaque that belonged to Allen's grandmother and was given to me. I love it! I love to have people in my home - to show hospitality. Wednesday mornings is when I meet with mostly women around my age (and one very young lady). In the past we have studied Beth Moore studies or books by Dee Brestin or Phillip Yancey. This year, we are going through the book "Life Management for Busy Women" by Elizabeth George, which is our topic for the Mom2Mom group we host once a month for the young moms at our church.

My daughter, Jill told me I must post a couple recipes on my blog. I made these casseroles for Christmas with the family. Since Bible study was this morning, I decided to make them for these ladies. That way I could take pictures for the blog too!

As it turned out, almost everyone in our Bible study could not come - illness, several out of state visiting children, appointments. But we decided to meet anyway. And spend time sharing about Christmas and take time to pray together about one another and those in our group. And eat! So, here are those delicious recipes that come originally from Rosemary Hinz, one of the ladies in our group. When we had this at her house, we all begged for the recipes.

Rosemary's Blueberry Croissant Puff
Cut up 5 large croissants and place in a 9x13 greased baking dish (I made 1/2 the recipe since I knew most of the women would not be able to make it today - but I am giving you the full recipe). Sprinkle with 1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries.

Beat together until well blended:
16 oz. cream cheese, softened
4 eggs
2 t. vanilla
1 1/3 cup sugar
Gradually add 2 1/2 cups milk (or cream!) until mixture is smooth.

Pour evenly over croissant pieces. Let stand 30 minutes. (I covered it at this point and put it in the refrigerator overnight and just baked it in the morning.)

Bake at 350 degrees for 40 - 60 minutes or until set in center and golden brown.

Now, here is the recipe for:

Rosemary's Sausage Brunch Casserole

In large skillet brown and then drain

1 1/2 pound bulk Italian sausage (again I only made 1/2 the recipe but I am giving you

the full recipe)

1 cup chopped onion

Arrange sausage and onion in greased 9x13 pan. Sprinkle over sausage mixture:

3 oz. chopped red roasted bell pepper

9 oz. or more frozen chopped spinach, drained well

Mix together in bowl:

1 cup flour

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1/2 t. salt

1 T. basil leaves (I used fresh)

Mix together in another bowl:

8 eggs

2 cups milk (or cream!)

Combine egg and flour mixture; beat until well blended. Pour liquid mixture over spinach.

Bake at 425 for 20 - 25 minutes or until set in center. (I made this the night before also and baked it in the morning) Sprinkle casserole with 4 oz. shredded Provolone cheese (this will melt in a few minutes). (because I baked the 2 at the same time, I just baked this casserole at 350 for just a little longer time)

Serve and enjoy!

Here are Julie and Janice enjoying the breakfast!

Now, we all know those casseroles are not the healthiest! And if your New Year's resolution is to watch what you are eating, well, you could instead enjoy one of our newest favorite breakfasts instead!

Undoing Christmas

Company's gone. I did loads of sheets, towels and other laundry today. It was time to pack up the Christmas decorations. This creche belonged to my mom and it always decorated the top of the record player cabinet in our dining room in Japan when I was growing up.

I used to spend hours playing with it - as you can tell from the missing ears!

I packed up each piece and wrapped them in toweling.

I also took down the Christmas ornaments. This is the ornament I purchased the Christmas before we were married. I was engaged and working in downtown Hutch at a life insurance company. There was a Hallmark store on Main and I still remember going into that store and finding this little manger scene and buying it for the following year when we would be married and having our first Christmas in Lawrence while attending KU.

We have many types of ornaments. Some are ornaments that we have purchased from places we have traveled to - Atlanta, Martha's Vineyard, San Diego, Seattle, Mackinaw Island,Pueblo, Mexico, Green Bay, Japan......

We have ornaments that mean something to us - a squirrel (for our rememberences of our "squirrely" friends, Dave and Sarah), a Star Bucks coffee cup because we love Star Bucks!, cat ornaments to remember our cats by......

And ornaments with photos in them of all our grandkids....

And of course ornaments that represent the real reason we celebrate this holiday....

A friend of mine was telling me that another friend of hers keeps her Christmas tree up and makes it into a Winter Tree during the month of January. I thought about that and decided I would try that too, this year. So although I took down all the Christmas ornaments, I decorated the tree with icicles, tinsel, woodland creatures, birds, berries, and snowmen. I really like it!

And I happened to have a large snowflake that could go on the top too. The angel came down and up went that snowflake. Appropriate with the snow we have outside right now.

I also dug out my box of snowmen and placed them around the house.

Have you seen this stuff? It is awesome!!! Just put a teaspoon of this "snow" in with 2 ounces of water and POOF! - it turns into snow! And it is cold too. Love it!

I put it around the base of this snowman.

Well, Christmas is undone. I'm glad we can't undo God's love for us in His gift of His Son!

How great a gift!

Christmas, a little late

Christmas celebrations with the family

While most people opened gifts and celebrated Christmas on Dec 25, we waited until Wednesday, the 30th, when our son, Josh and his family were able to come up from Arkansas.

One of the traditions we have is the advent log. In Japan while I was growing up, our family had this. Dad made a log for me when I got married. Jill also wanted to continue the tradition so he made one for her too. We light the first candle 4 weeks before Christmas and light it each evening while we eat. The next week we light 2 candles and so on and so forth. A new tradition we started (Jill's idea) is to say something about Jesus each time we light a candle. Sophie always says "Jesus is born". Always. Hannah would say "Jesus is God" or "Jesus is the light of the world" or other truths about Him.

Our family: Baby Elijah, son Josh, daughter-in-law Staci, me and Sophie, Allen, Jill, little Emeri holding hands with Hannah, Adam, Mindy and my parents, Pete and Lois.

Josh was telling Emeri that they were going to see Grandpa Pete and she said "I call him Peter".

Allen and I with our 3 dear children - Josh, Jill and Mindy

Opening gifts gallore~

Mindy reads a new book to Sophie.
They got a zoo pass with the book.

Mom received photo tiles that Jill made at the craft house in McPherson. Jess posted about this so it was something I was anticipating!! I was hoping Jill was making some for me and I was tickled that she made a set for me too. I LOVE them!

Papa and his two two-year-old granddaughters.

And with his new grandson.

Mindy gives Elijah a bottle.

Lisa, my daughter-in-law's mother, also came to spend Christmas with us. Staci's dad was skiiing in Colorado but Lisa came to help with the baby and the children on the 6 hour drive here. Lisa is a dear friend and we were happy to have her with us!

Cowgirl Hannah

Jill takes a turn holding Elijah.

Grandma Lois hold Eli too.

And my sister-in-law, Linda also takes a turn while my brother Dave snaps a shot.

We are all enamored with this little guy!

Now we are both tuckered out.

So much celebrating....

Christmas party

Several years ago (maybe 7), Allen and I began a young married's Bible study in our home. There were 3 couples with us. Then the next couple of years there were only 2 couples with us but we had a blast and really got to know one another well. After that, we had 6 couples. By now our church was really growing. There were many young marrieds coming to our church that needed to be in community life groups. So we encouraged each of the couples to lead a group of their own. We coached them and we also asked Dave and Sarah to come on board with us to help us.

Each Tuesday morning, Sarah and I meet with the wives of these couples. Last year we studied Beth Moore's study on the book of Daniel. This year we are going through a book called "Sacred Marriage" by Gary Thomas. "What if God designed marriage to make us holy more than to make us happy?" "This book doesn't tell you how to build a better marriage (except it does), but how your marriage can help you deepen your relationship with God." It is so good!

We had a Christmas party. We had 3 kinds of soups, breads and desserts. You can get Sarah's recipe for her Navajo soup on her blog. Lots to eat. Lots of laughter!

We had our traditional white elephant gift exchange.

I found this box at an Amish country store in Oklahoma. I had to get it. Infact, I got two - one for us and one to give away. You open the lid and this spider pops out really fast and lands on your finger. Freaks me out every time! Sarah opened this one....

....but it was stolen. That is part of our gift exchange. You can steal from others. Below are pictures of some of the gifts we got. I also gave away Bacon Jam. Yes, bacon jam. Yuk!! I found the recipe on-line. Had to render the bacon for over an hour. Add 2 yellow onions and cook it in the bacon grease for 4-5 hours. Add spices and such and blend them together to make the jam. I wouldn't call it jam myself. It was gross. But if you know any of these guys, you will know they are bacon fanatics. They even made bacon-wrapped chocolate once. How sick is that??

We treasure these couples and the many other couples our church has been blessed with. What an impact for the Kingdom they are making! And because I am the nursery director at our church, I get the added blessing of getting to know all of their children and loving on them every week!

( I took 3 pictures of the group, and Joel - stinker that he is - made funny faces in every one.)

We treasure you all and you are always in our prayers!

"The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also." 2 Tim. 2:1-3