A little update

Once again there have been some requests for an updated Courtney picture, so here you go. I want to point out the curtains on the window. Mom made those (this room would be so boring without her talents!) and we hung them yesterday. The room is getting cuter by the day!

My New Kitchen Toy

Finally, I have a slow cooker! I have been wanting one since we got married but I have always put off buying one, thinking I don't really have space for it. Now that we own our house, the realization set in: there's not going to be any more space than I have now! Plus, I am on the planning committee for the Women's Club annual Chili Party and one of our main responsibilities is to bring a batch of chili. Obviously, a slow cooker greatly facilitates the transport and serving of this chili. So my fellow committee members encouraged me to use this as an excuse to buy an item I've wanted for so long.

So friends, besides taking chili to the Chili Party, I don't really know what to do with my new appliance. I know a lot of you use your slow cookers regularly, though. Please send me recipes--I would love to have some tried and true favorites from friends!

Grandma and Daddy's Hard Work

Austin's grandma and daddy put in a lot of work on Austin's nursery this week. I am so thrilled with the results! We have quite possibly the cutest nursery in Pennsylvania, if I do say so myself. Maybe I should say nursery-in-progress; you'll notice that there isn't actually any furniture in it yet, but that will be changing in the next few weeks.

Here's the progress so far:

From plain white storage room...

...to pretty colors that look ready for a baby!

Search the Scriptures

Since Christmas I've been using a book called Search the Scriptures in my quiet time each day. (Thanks for telling me about it, Ashley.) The book takes you through every verse in Scripture in three years, with two or three questions every day about the passage you've read. I just finished the first part of the book, 25 studies which take you through Luke 1:1-9:56, and already I've dealt with questions like "What is the purpose of salvation?" and "What is the cause, nature, and outcome of repentance?" There are also a lot of personal application questions. It has been so helpful for me to have questions like that to focus on as I read the Bible. I am thinking more deeply about the things I read and how they apply to my life.

As a lot of you know, moving away from Grace Church and the amazing preaching there has been a challenging transition for me and Zach. God has really used this time to bring me back to the importance of my own personal study of His Word, though. I am growing in the faith that He and His Word are truly sufficient for me. Church can be a blessing (and I certainly believe He wants us to be part of a church), but it is possible to rely on church too much for growth, a pattern that was very easy for me to fall into in California. Now I am relying more on Him to teach me from His word and I'm seeing the blessings of deeper personal worship.

Just sitting around

Mom came to town a few days ago to help us paint our nursery and put up a wallpaper border. Since I'm not allowed to paint, I have spent a lot of time just sitting around while Mom and Zach are upstairs working. I'm trying to find things to do so that I don't feel completely useless but I'm running out of ideas! I can't wait to see the finished room, though. I have peeked in the door (trying not to breathe much) and the colors look great so far!

"Sneaky" Cooking

My sister gave me a great cookbook for Christmas, The Sneaky Chef by Missy Chase Lapine. Perhaps some of you have heard of it? It's pretty new and I think it's gotten some media attention because of its somewhat-controversial approach to healthy eating. The basic idea is that you (as a parent) hide healthy ingredients in the foods your kids like. The book is full of recipes for typical kid favorites like pancakes, macaroni and cheese, chicken strips, spaghetti, and of course desserts.

Now I don't really agree with the author that it's a good idea to use deception in order to get your kids eating healthier. (I won't try to explain her whole philosophy, which is basically the first half of the book. Suffice it to say that mealtime is not where she chooses to pick her battles with her children.) However, it's hard to argue with the fact that eating more vegetables and whole grains is a good thing and this book gives lots of fun ways to do that.

One strategy that is used really often is using small amounts of fruit/vegetable purees in recipes. I have tried two so far: Orange Puree, which is made of carrots and sweet potatoes, and Purple Puree, which is blueberries and spinach. (Recipes for both are on the Sneaky Chef website if you'd like to try them, along with a few ways to use the purees.) We have tried the Orange Puree in several dishes this week with great results every time: in French toast batter (believe it or not), mixed in with store-bought pasta sauce, in macaroni and cheese (both homemade and from a box), and in grilled cheese sandwiches. The food still tastes great; in most cases you don't even realize there is anything extra there but it's nice to know you are getting a health benefit.

I just made Purple Puree today. I have tried it in two recipes so far and I think they both turned out pretty well.

The raw ingredients of Purple Puree

The finished puree

Purple Puree Recipe #1: mixed into our meat/bean/taco sauce mixture for taco salad

Purple Puree Recipe #2: "Health by Chocolate" Cookies. Besides the puree, these are made with wheat germ, whole wheat flour, and less sugar than most cookies. Still tasted good, though.

I would love to hear if anyone else has used this cookbook or has any similar strategies. I may be an adult but I still find it challenging to eat enough veggies sometimes. The Sneaky Chef is making it more fun to "sneak" healthy stuff into my own diet!

Baby Stuff

Zach and I made another trip to our "big city" shopping destination of Monroeville today to buy some stuff for Austin. The first of many major purchases for our child, I'm sure. Apparently we spent enough to set off the fraud alerts at our credit card company because we had a message for us when we got home asking us to verify one of the purchases! (Kind of nice that someone...a computer, at least...is looking out for us, huh?)

So what did we get? Well, we ordered our crib and changing table/dresser. They will arrive in 7-14 days. That means that by the end of January our second bedroom will be well on its way to looking like a nursery because my mom is coming for a visit next week to help us paint and hang up a wallpaper border. So exciting! We are still looking for a glider and an area rug.

Second, we bought a camcorder. Zach, bless his heart, has done hours of research on the subject over the last two weeks. (I have no patience for that sort of thing. I'm really content for him to decide what we want, buy it, learn how to use it, and show me the basics I need to know.) But anyway, we walked into the store with a few models in mind. The very helpful Circuit City employee actually talked us into a different model, an HD version that we hadn't considered before, but we feel pretty good about our purchase. The picture quality on HD camcorders really is a major step up, even if you're shooting in standard format. (We were given a very convincing demonstration of this at the store.)

So I'm hoping to learn how to use the camcorder to post videos on my blog, but don't count on it. Like I said, I'm not one to devote lots of time to figuring out tech stuff. But maybe Zach will learn how and teach me!

The "Scary Little Monster" Inside

FYI...The title of this post refers to a certain baby outfit we were given for Christmas. Our parents will get it, I'm sure.

But anyway, Austin sure made his presence known this weekend. I first felt him move around 19 weeks, but his movements have been getting a lot stronger and more frequent in the past few days. Then yesterday morning Zach finally felt him for the first time! Zach was surprised at how strong it felt; I thought he was getting only a moderate taste of what this baby can do.

Then tonight Austin started kicking really hard right in the middle of my tummy so I decided to pull up my shirt and see if it was visible from the outside. Sure enough, it was, and Zach was nearby so he didn't miss out on the action. Even though I've been feeling him for a month, there was something a little startling, but very exciting, about seeing my tummy jump and ripple because of this tiny creature inside me. No doubt about it, something strong is growing inside!

Home Again

Zach and I flew back to Pennsylvania on Thursday. Since then it's been two days of cleaning, unpacking, and grocery shopping as we try to get back into a normal routine. Zach still has a whole week until classes start at IUP, though, so our routine doesn't have to get too normal just yet!

Just thought I'd post a few last pictures of our trip. It was such a wonderful two weeks--we are so thankful that we were able to see both our families and so many friends.

We spent Christmas evening with our good friends Christy and John Hansen, who are missionaries in Croc, Mexico.
One of the best parts about our time in Missouri was getting to see my sister and her husband almost every day. Going to my parents' house isn't quite the same now that Megan doesn't live there anymore, but we got to spend lots of time with her on this trip.

My parents flew down to Texas for the last few days of our trip to go to the Cotton Bowl. Can you tell it was a bit chilly that day? We had a great time...as my dad put it, "Football is really a lot more fun to watch when your team wins." Go Tigers!