The plan for 10.23.2012 - 10.31.2012

Wednesday :: Company Casserole
Thursday :: Barley Soup  (it is supposed to snow, I thought this sounded yummy!)
Friday :: Mac & Cheese & Whatever else I find in the fridge that sounds good
Saturday :: Chicken and Green Beans
Sunday :: Spinach Pesto Pasta w/ Chicken (I am going to try to make spinach pesto this week...we'll see how that turns out)
Monday :: Leftovers
Tuesday :: Egg Bake (I am not exactly sure which recipe I will do this one, or this one, or I just had a friend email me a new one...)
Wednesday :: Stir fry veggies + brown rice + chicken

Meal Planning and Running Schedule Planning

Interview with {no other than} Alissa!

I can't believe that we have been in America for over 2 months!  I also can't believe how sweet my friends (dare I say, 'community'... a word I never thought I would use post-Greenville) have been with checking in on how transition to America is going.

Instead of emailing everyone individually, I thought I would interview myself (I am pretty sure that all the cool kids are doing it).

Here are some of the most popular questions that we have gotten over the last few weeks/months.

Q: How do you like Colorado?
A: We LOVE it.  The low humidity is amazing.  And it is sunny a lot.  One thing that we are still adjusting to is suburb living.  It is a whole different beast.  I can do city living (like Daegu) and I can definitely do small town or rural, but suburbs are...interesting.

Q: What do you miss from Korea?
A: the.people. No doubt about that.  We do miss some of the food, the simplicity of non-American living, and I miss the financial stability/security of having two incomes (but God IS good and He DOES provide, so we are okay, I just like to feel security in earthly things like a paycheck.)

Q: What do you do?
A: Currently, I am a nanny.  I get paid to hang out with three pretty cool kids (ages 8, 5, and 2.5).  Most days are pretty fun, some days are not so much (those days I come home saying, "we are NEVER having children"  When  you have kids, they live with you ALL the time, like, the parents never come home and you get to leave...yikes!  I think it is a huge blessing that all humans are born as cute, helpless infants.   So glad that no one accidentally pops out a teenager....or a two and a half year old.)  Anywho, it is a pretty good part time job.  I will get a full time teaching job (eventually).

Ian goes to class.  He learns cool stuff and tells me about it.  He seems to like classes and is doing well! 

Q: What do you like about living in America again?
A: the.people.  It is SO great to be near family again.  We love having a car again and being able to communicate easily with people around us.  Our grocery bill is considerably lower as well :-)  There are a lot of little things that are nice too: not needing a proxy to watch Hulu or listen to Pandora, being in similar time zones to most of my friends, knowing that we will have Thanksgiving and Christmas off (YES!), seeing other women out running etc, etc, etc.

Q: How do you like your apartment?
A: We love it!  Usually we do a video tour of the place we are living, it is coming...eventually.

Q: Are you still running?  How is running in Colorado?
A: Yes, I am still running.  I thought I was going to move to Colorado and have about 23,489,302,948 insta-running buddies...not so much.  Running has taught me endurance, so I am trying to endure until I can find someone to run with.  I do go to a running club on Wednesday nights.  They write really hard workouts - which is fun, but the demographic is a bit different than what I am looking for.

I think that is about it...anymore questions?  Ask away and I will be more than happy to answer :-)

Menu Plan 10.16.2012 and the rest of the story...

FYI: We get free bread some times.  It is a perk of being in seminary.  Just thought you should know before you read about all the sandwiches we will be eating this week!  And if you want to see what actually happened with last week's meal plan, scroll down to the bottom.

Wednesday: Chili (we never ate chili last week)
Thursday: Pizza (we have some leftover pepperoni from last week) I think this is what we my amazing husband uses for the crust.
Friday: The Best Chicken Salad Sandwich Evah
Saturday: Chicken Quesadillas
Sunday: Leftover Chili and Grilled Cheese Sandwiches
Monday: French Toast
Tuesday: Pulled Chicken Sandwiches (basically shredded chicken with bbq sauce)

This has nothing to do with Menu Planning...just a lovely pic from my 10 mile (16km) long run on Saturday

And now for the rest of the story...

Wednesday: Pizza, Salad, and Bread sticks (The amazing hubs is going to whip out the pizza, the bread sticks are coming from the freezer section).   We are having guests and I thought we needed something extra...like bread stick.   Long story short: DO NOT try out a brand new pizza stone 45 minutes before guests show up...especially if the internet tells you to put a lot of oil on said stone and pop it into a 500 degree oven.  THE INTERNET IS WRONG...there will be smoke... a lot of it.  We took our guests out to eat while our apartment aired out. 
Thursday: Meatloaf, Mashed Sweet Potatoes, and Green Beans (This actually happened = Success!  Thanks from coming Alexz!)
Friday: Thai Chicken Pasta (I babysat, Ian had leftovers)
Saturday: Crockpot Chili (I will only use half a pound of beef in this recipe)  I found out around noon that we were having someone over for dinner, so we had the Cheesy Beef and Rice Casserole instead. 
Sunday: Cheesy Beef and Rice Casserole, (and the other half pound of beef in this recipe) and Broccoli & Cauliflower  We attended Unpacking Atheism. (We were able to attend the Live event!) Of course, an Atheist sat at our discussion table.  We ended up getting home much later than planned - it was a bowl of cereal kind of night.
Monday: French Toast  (This actually happened went as planned...what is better than getting back from a run to find French Toast waiting in the Penguin?)
Tuesday: Leftovers/Clean out the Fridge We had the Thai Chicken Pasta that we were supposed to have on Friday.

What was the best meal that you ate last week?

I can't think of a fun title for this one

My parents came to visit this past weekend.

See?  They came!  And we took them out for some Korean food (YUM-O!)

At some point during the weekend, my mom mentioned that I should email her my weekly menu plans to give her ideas and hold her accountable on menu planning (not that I ever lecture my mom on the importance of making and sticking to a meal plan).

And since I have not blogged in a long time, I thought you might want to read what we will be eating this coming week.  I grocery shop on Wednesdays (hence I start there with my meal plan).

• Wednesday: Pizza, Salad, and Bread sticks (The amazing hubs is going to whip out the pizza, the bread sticks are coming from the freezer section).   We are having guests and I thought we needed something extra...like bread stick.  
• Thursday: Meatloaf, Mashed Sweet Potatoes, and Green Beans
• Friday: Thai Chicken Pasta
• Saturday: Crockpot Chili (I will only use half a pound of beef in this recipe)
• Sunday: Cheesy Beef and Rice Casserole, (and the other half pound of beef in this recipe) and Broccoli & Cauliflower
• Monday: French Toast
• Tuesday: Leftovers/Clean out the Fridge

Extra Ideas (in case the menu plan flops OR I don't feel like cooking what is on the list OR we need something to eat for lunch and don't feel like leftovers).
PB and J, Egg Sandwich, Pancakes, Grilled Cheese, Quesadilla, PB crackers...

Be inspired!  Go forth and menu plan!

He is there. He is good.

I have quite a few drafts of blog posts waiting for pictures, editing, and for me to push the publish button.  They are coming.  I promise.

I thought I would share what I listened to today and post part of it.  If you head over to the Veritas Forum, look up Os Guinness as a presenter, and find his presentation at California Polytechnic State University titled The Journey: A Thinking Person's Quest for Meaning.  (Sorry if that is confusing, but I could not figure out how to link you there.)


One of my favorite, favorite parts of this presentation happens in the Question and Answer session (if you don't have time, you can skip to the 1:12:30 mark).  If you have time, listen to the whole thing and take notes.  (I listened to it like 4 Saturdays in a row during my long runs this past spring).

Os Guinness brings up the parable of the resistance fighter.

In time of war in an occupied country, a member of the resistance meets one night a stranger. They spend the evening in conversation. The stranger tells the partisan that he himself is a member of the resistance, indeed that he is in command of it; and urges the partisan to have faith in him no matter what happens. The partisan is utterly convinced of the stranger's sincerity and constancy and undertakes to trust him.

They never meet in conditions of intimacy again. But sometimes the stranger is seen helping members of the resistance, and the partisan is grateful and says to his friends "He is on our side." Sometimes he is seen in the uniform of the enemy handing over patriots to the occupying power. On these occasions his friends murmur against him; but the partisan still says, "He is on our side." He still believes that, in spite of appearances, the stranger did not deceive him. Sometimes he asks the stranger for help and receives it. He is then thankful. Sometimes he asks and does not receive it. Then he says, "The stranger knows best."

-- Basil Mitchell

In case you had a rough day or your flesh wants you to believe otherwise, remember that He is there and He is good.

Things I am Lovin' {and not so much}

Waaaa!  I have not blogged in awhile.  Sorry about that.  We are doing great!  Ian is rocking out his classes. I have learned about 10 Greek words from him so far.  And by learn I mean I can say the words, I can't read Greek.

Moving on...

Here is a list of things I am loving these days:
1.) Coffee Creamer - In Korea, I drank about one cup of black coffee a day.  Now we live in America and we have access to liquid coffee creamer.  It is addicting!  I easily drink three cups (American-sized) cups of coffee a day now.

2.) Speaking of which - DECAF COFFEE - waaaaaaaaaaaa!  It is so nice to be able to go out to coffee after 8am :-)  I know some of ya'll think decaf is gross.  I feel deep sorrow in my heart for you.

3.)

This is a picture taken out of our bedroom window on Ian's phone (and I did not edit it).  Ya'll should come visit us so you can see it in person!

4.) Thrift stores!  Yay!  I am so happy to be able to shop at thrift stores again!  And clothes in America fit me!  Double Yay!  We have donated quite a bit to the local Goodwill (for some reason, we had 5 potato peelers and 4 ice cream scoops...).  And we have done some shopping. Ian got a pair of shoes for $3.50 US Dollars (that is like 4,000 won!)  And they are nice.  I got a pair of jeans for 5 dollars!  I love thrift shopping!

5.) Speaking of which, if I can't find clothes that I want at thrift stores, I can order clothes on-line.  And they come to our apartment.  In less than a week.  And if they don't fit, I can return them to a store. (happy sigh) Life is so convenient in America.

6.) If you are in Korea, you may want to skip to number 7.  You have been warned.  FOOD!!!!!!!!!  I love American grocery stores.  We have made meatballs (twice), meatloaf, lasagna, Mexican Chicken something in the crockpot (with BROWN rice - Hallelujah), homemade salsa, homemade granola.  I have not really cried too much with our transition from Korea to America, but when I get in American grocery stores, I tend to get emotional - I am not really sure why, but God is good.  If you live in America, you are blessed.  American grocery stores are overwhelming.

7.) Kakao Talk!  I have a smart phone now!  And I have Kakao Talk!  Kakao allows me to text (and potentially call) my friends in Korea for FREE.  Granted, my friends in Korea are texting me in the middle of the night and I am replying in the middle of their night, but we can talk to each other and share pictures.  AND they have about a bajillon emoticon- that are so Korean.  (Friends in Korea: my Kakao ID is ianda0605).

And the {short} list of things I am not lovin' so much:
What is the deal with the weird code thing on the top of my blog?  Can you see it?  I am not sure how it go there or how to get rid of it.

Life is expensive, especially in America!  It makes me feel like a grown-up when Ian and I discuss money in thousands of dollars (that is millions of won).  But at the same time, God is so faithful and He provides for our every need, every day....and our wants too. (Thanks God!  You rock!)

God is good.  Life is good.  What are you lovin' in life right now?

A new place, a new month, and a new look

Whew!  August 2012 is over.  It was a pretty big month for us.  We started it in Korea teaching and we ended here, in Colorado, on a new adventure.

Since we have so many changes going on, I thought it would be fun to update my blog a bit.  I did all the design myself.  So if something is funky, please tell me :-).  I will try to mess with more computer code and online tutorials to fix it.

I had two different color inspirations for the new look: a flower and a rooster.

From Design Seeds (Becuase I love you, I included the hex and RGB values for you.)

Also from Design Seeds

I am saying this as your friend.  Do not go check out Design Seeds for color inspiration unless you have a lot of spare time on your hands.  It can totally suck you in.

On an unrelated note, you might notice that Bible Reading is missing from the tabs to choose from. Why you may ask...(ask for my sake) BECAUSE, I FINISHED reading through the whole entire Bible.  Booya!  I am done.  I now everything about God and Christianity (just kidding).  My new favorite chapter of the Bible is Ezekiel 16.  It explains, grace, salvation, idolatry, and God's enduring patience all in one chapter, albeit a bit graphically.

I just realized that I have not posted a picture of what we wake up to each and every morning.  So I will end this post with our gorgeous view.  Running trail, golf course, and mountains. (sigh of perfection)