Susie Homemaker, that's me!

I can cook and cook well, BUT I don't cook often. Something about being on my feet and taking care of children probably takes the joy out of cooking for me. (I work at a preschool and my class is eight children large.)
Today though, I got out of work early and had all the stuff to make hummus so I decided to make my own homemade hummus- for the first time. The recipe I have and will be posting does not really have exact measurements so I will tell you how much I used in parentheses.
I was really jazzed to make it when I got home and went searching for my can opener. I thought that would be a quick find but I think with moving three times in less than a year will cause you to lose some things you would otherwise have. (can opener, hand mixer blades, water filters, etc.)
After I realized this, I thought well this is not going to happen today. I think got on facebook in somewhat of a bummed mood and saw that Krista French had just posted and knowing that she was probably home along with the fact that she lives just around the corner from me, I asked her if I could borrow hers. She okayed that idea so I ran up there and used her can opener and I was back in business to make my hummus. :) Thanks Krista.
Okay, so this is my recipe base.

1 big can chick peas (also known as garbanzo beans), drained (2- 15 oz cans)
1 big clove garlic
lemon juice (a couple tablespoons, or to taste)
a big spoonful of tahini or peanut butter
a drizzle of sesame oil if you have no tahini
a glug or two of olive oil
a big spoonful of plain yogurt (optional; Greek-style if you have it)
a pinch of cumin is good
a big pinch of salt
a roasted red pepper is good too

Whiz all in a food processor until smooth.

Okay, so I just kinda dumped everything in like it said, but you get the idea. 

This is what mine looks like. It is pretty good especially for my first try! :)

There are lots of ways to make variations of hummus. Get creative and let me know if you come up with good ones! :)

Small re-cap of the semester....

It has been a while again, but here is another update on life. Last Sunday, our pastor was out of town & and had previously asked my husband to preach for him which he said yes to. This was the second time in a few months that he preached in front of 50 or more people! I am so proud of him. :) While I don't have a picture of him in front of the church preaching I do have a picture of him preaching in front of the college ministry that we interned at this last semester. :) Enjoy & I hope it gives you a feel for what we are doing.

There he is preaching at the campus ministry.  I think he was more nervous for this one than last week.

The band at the campus ministry practicing! They are excellent! :)

Patching the ceiling so it would not leak as bad...

So the picture just above is of Austin (one of the campus ministers) patching the ceiling because of all the rain we had while there. The building is actually two separate buildings and the one building got a new roof  last year but they did not reconnect the gutters correctly so it would leak in the offices every time it rained. With all the rain we got down there, it was more like a river at times.  We ended up pulling up the carpet in this office (which is where the water came in through the ceiling). It was interesting to walk in when it was raining to see what was wet. My husband with his roofing skills was able to fix it enough that it did not leak again. Shortly after that, the roof got replaced. No more leaking! 

This is a picture of hail, while & rain. The white though is the hail. 

I went on a trip to Joplin MO to visit the headquarters of Rapha House & just has we got into town it started hailing and when it quit, it looked liked it had snowed, er or hailed. I will post about Rapha House & all they do later. 

Bob & baby Norah Maeleigh

The last exciting thing to happen (at least that I have a picture of & remember right now) was the birth of Austin & Amy's third baby! She arrived our last full week in Fayetteville. Kris, Kirstyn, Cory, Bob & I went to the hospital and visited the family, while minus their other two kids. Bob was a little apprehensive about holding her but he finally did & I got a picture. :) She is such a sweet little thing. She was BIG though!  If I remember correctly over 10 pounds! 

Well that is all over now. I will blog again soon.

I haven't...

Blogged in two months. Exactly. I know, I need a good scolding. First there was spring break, then there was traveling- Lots of that, then moving out followed by more traveling, a wedding ( I'll get to that in a bit) & moving in again.
Sufficient to say, I have been a busy girl & I start back to work tomorrow. In someways, I am ready & in other ways I wish I did not have to go back. Ah well, I will enjoy working while I am.

Anyway to catch you up a bit about life lately.

So we were at the University of Arkansas doing a campus ministry internship.

At the fountain in the middle of campus, doing the Bob pose

Shortly after this, we were packing up our apartment & loaded down our car. Literally. My poor car was practically dragging the ground. I wish I had a picture to demonstrate how loaded down it was.

We drove to my friend Jessica's house & spent the night with her family plus a random trip to the ER because her sister is pregnant and thought she might be going into labor- that was the COLDEST waiting room I have EVER been in. Seriously.

The next day we drove to Williamsburg, KS for our good friend Lori's wedding! Out of our group of twelve girls, Lori was the 5th of us to get hitched. :)

First there was Sydney (& Jonathan)- 

Then Tiffany (&Tim)-

Then Annie (& Tyler)-

Then Me (& Bob)-

& now Lori has joined us (& Daniel)-

(Photo credit: Lacy Howard)

After this is was back down to AR & my hometown. This is where my dad pulls out a bunch of guns & my husband gets scared. Kidding, kidding. Guns did come out but only to shoot at targets and have a good time, which we did. :)

Well that is all I have for now. I will write again soon. I promise.

Revive Me

So has we all know, spring has yet to, well, spring. We seem to get a taste every now and again but for the most part it seems as though it is still winter. I was talking to one of the ConC ministers today and jokingly asking her why she is letting it be winter still. She kind of went on this imaginary spill about how amazing it will feel when it finally feels like spring.
She was talking about how the rain must come before the greatness of spring. She said think about what it will feel like to breath in and those breaths feel like we just went for a run and how good that run felt and how blue the sky is and how good the wind feels and how we could just find a patch of grass that is mostly unkept, how we will just plop back in it and enjoy how soft it is against us, there will be in mud for us to get on us, no dog poop to accidentally lay in (there is a lady who brings her dog to do its' thing in the front lawn). We will feel cleaner after getting up than when we laid down in the grass. There were probably so other things said but those are the ones that stuck out to me especially when this song by a band called Take No Glory called I Run to You came on my playlist.
We keep asking where spring is and whether it has forgotten about us and while we ask that about spring now, we often as that about God and I think this song describes it all perfectly...

Long time, I know!

So I promised my good friend Lynn that I would post last week and it just did not happen. Not because I was too busy but I did not have internet and I simply did not feel like going somewhere where the was internet. So no good excuse just wanting to hibernate I guess, well and then the ickies hit. Mostly just the congested kind but I will spare you the details of anything else that came about.

I will tell you though that I read 5 books in about three and a half days and would have read more if I would have had the books. I read insanely fast sometimes, especially when I am bored it seems. Oh well that seems to be a lot as of late.

Now since I have told you what I did last week instead of blogging, well my husband went on a spring break missions trip and I stayed in Fayetteville for the week. I did go to my best friend, Wendi's, house for the first weekend he was gone and we had a blast! I was going to go to visit friends where I went to college but gas went up like crazy and we just could not afford for me to do that.

Going to my best friend's house was so much fun! We have not seen each other since I got married except for a couple of hours when I first got back to my beloved Arkansas. The weekend started a little early as I went up Thursday afternoon (St. Patrick's Day). Me & my Route 44 Vanilla Cranberry Coke made the two hour drive and were there by 1ish. She always cooks something fun while I am there and this time was no exception! She had beer bread going into the oven when I got there so when it came out we were waiting with mouth's a-watering for a piece! Dinner was delicious roast beef, carrots and potatoes! She is such a good cook! Friday morning she made cinnamon scones for me! They were so delicious! I am going to be visiting the blog she got it from and jotting down the recipe for myself. :) We are both really getting into couponing and she needed to grocery shop so we went together to do this. That was um, interesting. Society has changed in such a way that now when 2 people of the same gender are together, people are wondering if you are a couple or are just friends. Seriously, we got so looks and we were even talking about our husbands! That was entertaining when we realized it.

Wendi and her husband are looking to buy land and build or buy a house with some acreage to it. Friday night, Wendi and her husband drive me to land that they are looking at buying and Saturday, Wendi and I went and looked at a house that online looked like a possibility. What a joke that was. Oh well, it was fun!

I think that is all I will include in this post, but more to come soon! I think the writing bug is coming back. :)

Just a quick note....

I have been absent from blogging for a while. Just a crazy life... of a campus minister's wife. I will be writing a few updates next week though so be looking out for those! :)

Home!

This past weekend, Bob & I went home. Home as in Mountain Home. Home as in my parents. Home as in my very warm water bed which I still love a lot. Home as in home church. Home as in hometown. HOME! We took off from Fayetteville late Friday morning and arrived home around 1pm and ate lunch with my mama. She had made something new with homemade yogurt. It was yummy! :) After that is was just hanging out with my parents and enjoying the day.
Saturday was a full day. We went to shop for my brother's birthday & get him presents so we could send it to him (he is overseas right now). After that, it was a quick trip to a place where I used to work in MH to see people and then dinner with a wonderful friend at a super yummy Thai restaurant! Plus she brought us homemade treats! After lunch we went to my church, watched a little Upward basketball & met with my home pastor. :) Homeward bound was a little worrisome as my car decided to act up a little bit. We made it home safe and sound and then my best friend, whom I have not seen in 7+ months came out before she went back home and she, my mama & I sent concocted a new dish. (I will post it when I get it from my mama, lol.)
Sunday ended up being more interesting than I was expecting. We got there in time to help in the nursery during preschool and instead of it being easy breezy, the baptistery somehow turned back on and overflowed all the way down the hallway so Bob & I keep the kids until it was cleaned up and in church service my pastor introduced us and had us stand up and the service ended up going long with 10-15 people ending up and joining the church which was super cool.

It was a good weekend up and I can't wait to go back in a couple of weeks for the CCW class.