Yonder We Go

For those millions of you that actually read our blog... we will not post anything for a few weeks because we will be traveling to Wales, England, and Scotland. My mother and Ben's mother are going along with us. I'm sure we will have highly entertaining stories to share when we return.

Wales and Whales!







England!








Scotland!

Random Topics

These first photos are of Ben's dad, Ray, and Ben's little brother, John, cruising around.

Ben and his daddy.

This is an oak tree at our primary campus at school. I think it's the most beautiful tree I've ever seen. One of the people that founded the Society of the Sacred Heart (order of nuns) was named Rose Phillipine Duchesne. (pronounced DEW-SHEN) Duchesne in French means "heart of oak." Isn't that neat?

Grandmas

This is a picture of Ben and I with his grandparents, S.E. and Georgia. They are really remarkable people in my opinion. I would've liked to be close to my grandparents, but between being in another state and just well... time together, we never were. My mom's mom, Granny as I called her, was very proper and kind and never raised her voice. I have one memory of her where my little brother and I went on a walk and of course she put a scarf around her hair so it wouldn't get messed up. (I remember thinking that was absurd) My brother must have been very young, because I don't think I was more than 10 yrs old. Anyway, I remember asking if we could make up a song and she said "ok", so she made up this song that went: "Here we go, Jim, John and Joe, over the mountains and over the vales, here we go." After we established who was Jim, John and Joe we sang it over and over and over. It's my favorite memory of my grandmother. My other grandmother is still alive. She is an artist- a painter. She drives all crazy, has loads of rings from the home shopping club she never wears, and wears her hair in a bun. She's a very interesting lady.

Anyway... I want to share with whomever reads this silly blog of ours some of the funny stuff Ben's grandma sent me today. She is very funny, with a very vibrant personality. These are supposed to be from church bulletins. They are misprints of course.

> For those of you who have children and don't know it, we have a nursery downstairs.


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> Next Thursday there will be tryouts for the choir. They need all the help they can get.


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> Barbara remains in the hospital and needs blood donors for more transfusions. She is also having trouble sleeping and requests tapes of Pastor Jack's sermons.


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> The Rector will preach his farewell message after which the choir will sing: "Break Forth Into Joy."

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> Irving Benson and Jessie Carter were married on October 24 in the church. So ends a friendship that began in
> their school days.


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> A bean supper will be held on Tuesday evening in the church hall. Music will follow.


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> At the evening service tonight, the sermon topic will be "What Is Hell?"
Come early and listen to our choir practice.


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> Eight new choir robes are currently needed due to the addition of several new members and to the deterioration of some
> older ones.


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> Potluck supper Sunday at 5:00 PM - prayer and medication to follow.


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> The ladies of the Church have cast off clothing of every kind. They may be seen in the basement on Friday afternoon.


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> This evening at 7 PM there will be a hymn singing in the park across from the Church. Bring a blanket and come
> prepared to sin.


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> Ladies Bible Study will be held Thursday morning at 10 AM. All ladies are invited to lunch in the Fellowship Hall
after the B.S. is done.

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> The pastor would appreciate it if the ladies of the congregation would lend him their electric girdles for the pancake
> breakfast next Sunday.


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> The eighth-graders will be presenting Shakespeare's Hamlet in the Church basement Friday at 7 PM. The congregation
> is invited to attend this tragedy.


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> Weight Watchers will meet at 7 PM at the First Presbyterian Church. Please use large double door at the side entrance.


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> The Associate Minister unveiled the church's new tithing campaign slogan last Sunday: "I Upped My Pledge - Up Yours".

Florida Bikers

Here's a picture of what Ben and I will look like in 50 years when our kids take away our licenses.

Also noteworthy, last night Ben and I went to a Japanese buffet with some friends. They had all kinds of sushi there and Ben decided to be adventurous and eat some sushi with a baby octopus in it! Although this picture is not the one he ate, it's close enough. Needless to say I covered my eyes while he ate it. He said it wasn't bad at all.

Bored

Ever been bored? Today was one of those days when Ben and I couldn't figure out what to do. Watched a little of "Conan the Barberian", went to the mall, walked around the park, drove around with the windows down... you get the picture. Tragic, I know.

You Know You Laughed

I thought this picture was funny.

Strange Sightings

All of the following pictures are within a two block radius of our apartment. I thought I'd share some unusual things Ben and I have noticed. The first one is really strange. We used to get our car serviced at this place called South Miami Auto Center. I guess they sold it because they tore it down. Now there are just bounds of rocks and a security fence up, BUT we noticed something a little odd there.
What? You don't see it? Let's zoom in.








OK... are you as surprised as we were? That's right... a fake skeleton in the midst of it all. Or is it fake? (kidding)







A duck egg. We saw the mama duck sitting on the nest the other day and I told Ben, "hey, this is a funny place for a duck to be sitting. I'll bet she has an egg under there." She hissed at us pretty good, so my suspicions were confirmed.





These are outside of an animal hospital near us. They are an elephant and a giraffe.






Finally, there is an old car around the corner from our place that I really like. It is from the 1940's and has this visor thing to block the sun. Why don't they make this on cars anymore? It makes perfect sense to me why everyone would want one of those things. There's Benny in the yellow shirt.

Amish book review

For those of you who don't know by now, I'm very intrigued by the Amish way of life. I don't want to become one and I feel that they are an unreached people group that needs to hear the gospel. For Christmas, Ben got me some books by a lady I've never read before. I've read similar books by another authoress named Beverly Lewis. I really enjoyed this new authoress. I think her books are neat 'cause she uses lots of Pennsylvania Dutch words in there. Below is the series that I just finished. I would recommend it highly! One quote I liked a lot from one of these books is "faults are thin where love is thick".













Just by chance I ran into a television interview by a woman named Ruth Irene Garrett and was interested in her true life story. She wrote about it in her book called "Crossing Over". It is about how she left the Amish life and became English. (English meaning anyone that isn't Amish) It is VERY interesting. I haven't finished it yet, but I'll let you know how it goes.

Hurray for Benny!

Benny passed the last exam for his second certification and got a 91 out of 100!

Mii Characters

The Nintendo Wii we have gives you the chance to make characters that look like you. I'll let you judge for yourself!

Cooking in February

I like hearty meals. I especially like soups and stews... even when it is 80 degrees outside! I made this tonight and thought it was worthy of sharing. My regards to the Betty Crocker cookbook, and to my wonderful mother-in-law that gave it to me in the first place.




Corn Chowder

1/2 pound bacon, cut up (I used turkey bacon)
1 medium onion, chopped (1/2 C or more)
2 medium stalks celery, chopped (1 Cup)
2 Tbls all-purpose flour
4 Cups milk
1/8 tsp pepper (or more if you like it like I do)
1 can cream-style corn
1 can tiny whole potatoes, drained and diced
chopped fresh parsley, if desired (I didn't have it)
Paprika, if desired (I sprinkled it on top.. pretty)

1. Cook bacon in 3-quart saucepan over medium heat until crisp. Drain fat, reserving 3 tablespoons in saucepan. Drain bacon on paper towels; set aside. (with turkey bacon I found that it didn't give off all that much fat... so I left whatever was there and added a little butter)

2. Cook onion and celery in bacon fat over medium heat about 2 minutes, stirring, until tender. Stir in flour. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture is bubbly, remove from heat. (mine never looked "bubbly"...but I gave it a good stir)

3. Gradually stir in milk. (I put mine in all at once) Heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Boil and stir 1 minute.

4. Stir in pepper, corn and potatoes. Heat until hot. Stir in bacon. Sprinkle each serving with parsley and paprika.

**Interesting tidbit- the word chowder, comes from the French word chaudiere. It is a large cauldron that the seamen used to make their hearty stews in. Enjoy!

Peek-A-Boo

Benny passed his certification test! Only one more to go!

TV evangelists and sickness

Well... for the last few days I've been sick. I hardly ever get sick, so I guess I'll blog about this momentous occasion. :) Last night I was supposed to go to a Valentine's dinner at our church, but Ben put his foot down and said I couldn't go. (I knew I shouldn't go, but I really wanted to) Today I stayed home from church which is also very unusual. I found myself looking at the clock and wondering what they are all doing at church. So, to get my mind off of things AND to get a little spiritual nourishment I decided to find some preaching on TV. First of all, I just want to say someone needs to tell Jan Crouch to stop dying her hair pink! Second of all, I saw lots of different pastors wearing jeans and a suit jacket together which is pretty modern and trendy. I even saw one where he had some of the other pastors or deacons sitting behind him and they were like 80 years old wearing jeans and a suit jacket. I thought it was interesting. Before you think I'm shallow, I also heard some great preaching. One sermon in particular struck me about claiming God's promises. He said that claiming promises is kind of like writing a check. Jesus has signed it and when you endorse it (claim it) then you have to take it to the bank (act) so that you can use it. I didn't get all the details right, but I thought it was a good analogy. Anyway... those are my thoughts today.

Church humor

I thought these cartoons were too good to not share.

Wii Boxing with Sam and Jenny

Superbowl

I thought this bit of football humor would make someone smile out there. Ben and I really have no interest in football. Back in Alabama people always ask you if you are an Alabama or Auburn fan. I would always look at them and say "What?" People didn't just root for a team... they had car seats, earrings, sweatshirts, EVERYTHING in their team's colors and mascots. People are serious about football in Alabama. For this superbowl, I think Prince is singing at half time. As a music teacher I can honestly say that I find Prince's singing abhorant. Local TV stations here said that if you wanted to be on the field during halftime with Prince (one of the many in the crowds of adoring fans) you had to be able to run the length of two football fields and you had to be able to stand on your feet for a few hours. Well... although this post sounds frightfully negative, for those of you that enjoy football I tip my hat to you.