In case you haven’t heard…

We are having a baby! It still seems a little surreal but we heard the heartbeat on Valentine’s Day and it’s amazing. I am almost 11 weeks along and our expected due date is September 10 … my aunt Joanie’s birthday!

I feel like I should have a lot of questions but I don’t even know where to start. I am thankful for so many friends I can turn to who have children and align with my beliefs. I am excited to learn more about hypnobirthing. Phil and I think we want to find out if we are having a girl or a boy but maybe the Lord wants us to wait (and teach me to let go of my OCD planning and organizing).

We told our parents on Saturday, February 11. I made a cake that said, “We’re having a baby!” and it was a big hit. We called Phil’s family and sent them a picture of the cake. Courtney is probably the most excited since she has been planning for our baby for the last 6 months – collecting books for the baby, asking a family friend for the bib they were making (for another baby),.. She kept singing under her breathe all day, “Amanda’s having a baby, Amanda’s having a baby.” We sent the recording of the heartbeat to my parents and she was convinced I was having the baby that day because of the heart “beeps”.

So far I haven’t had any real sickness. I get an upset stomach at night so I just have to rest but otherwise it’s been pretty great! I do see my belly starting to grow though I have gained 3 pounds since my 6 week check up so I seem to be doing good.

We move to Florida at the beginning of June. Everyone is concerned about the heat but I think it will be fine – just have to be careful! I am nervous for how I will connect with people and find friends but we are praying we find a good church we can plug into right away. It will be hard to leave Hiawatha though.

Here are some pictures of the eventful day and of the pregnancy test!

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The Sherm and other thoughts

This is our awesome kitten, Sherman. He is laying beside me right now, purring away (loudly). He loves to play with his pet weasel that my dad gave him as well as a stuffed zebra and a blue catnip toy. He also likes chasing laser lights and ping pong balls. Our neighbor made him a sweet scratching post that he likes to sit on and watch us go to our car when we leave. He’s a great cat.

On to more important things…

Today one of the directors at work talked to our team about what she learned on her sabbatical and two things really caught my attention. The first is something that I have been struggling with but couldn’t put my finger on. She talked about being “recaptured by great love.” The phrase “recaptured BY” struck a chord in me because it isn’t about me recapturing Jesus but about letting him recapture me. I have just been entirely too distracted to notice the depth of his greatness these days. To realize this makes me sad because who or what is a great as the Lord? The one who makes the sea part for people to escape their enemy, who shuts mouths of lions, who dies a terrible death for people who curse him and RAISES FROM THE DEAD. I was also reminded from a sermon preached at my church this past Sunday on Psalm 77  – how great and awesome is our God and to remember what he has done even when we are in the deepest junk . The second thing is being “free from preoccupation”. This goes hand-in-hand with the problem of not being recaptured by Jesus. Even as I write this, I’m thinking of other things I need to do. So how do I free myself from preoccupation. I think the first step for me is to LISTEN to people when they are talking to me and LISTEN to God when I’m praying. I am not more important and what I think I need to do is not more important that Jesus or another person. Not doing is what is key to being free from preoccupation. I don’t know where to go from here but I think this is a good start

not by my strength

I have been incredibly lax in spending time with God and reading the Bible. I have come to the point where I know that I should but just find other things to keep me busy. Life isn’t bad or hard right now but I feel a little dead or not as alive as I could be. Like I know I am on the brink of being thoroughly satisfied but I sit and watch instead of moving toward what will bring me life.
I stopped listening and now my ears are dead so that what I believe has become head knowledge again and not growing in my heart.
Thank you Jesus that in my inaccurate view of you right now, you are still there. Prompting me to choose your grace. It seems like I swing from rules/duties to doing nothing… help me understand what it means to live in freedom and the immensity of your sacrifice so that I am able.  Help me find things that are more meaningful than boosting my self image.
I don’t want to be a sell out and live without intention, just passing by and filling myself with lame gratifications or giving up when something gets to hard.

bring on the heat.

It’s been quite a bit since I last posted. Summer has been flying by. I just got back from visiting Phil in Orlando and it was awesome. We are 7 weeks into his 12 week internship so over half done! The favorite adventure was kayaking down the river at Wekiwa Springs. The water was so clear and turquoise! We saw an alligator too.

As the summer moves on, we are praying for God’s direction in what is next for us. “Many are the plans in the mind of a man,but it is the purpose of the LORD that will stand.” Proverbs 19:21

New Recipe!

I experimented last night after looking over some recipes and came up with Gnocchi with Spinach, Sun-dried Tomatoes and Feta.
Ingredients:
4 chicken breast
1/4 cup crushed basil
1 Tbsp of thyme
4 cups of fresh spinach
4 sun-dried tomatoes, julienned
1 cup of feta cheese
1/2 cup shredded parmesan reggiano
1 cup of spaghetti sauce
1 package of gnocchi

Brown chicken breast in 1 Tbsp of olive oil with basil and thyme until cooked through in deep pan on the stovetop.

Add spinach and sun-dried tomatoes and simmer with chicken until spinach is tender. About 4 minutes.

Add cheeses. Push the everything to the center of the pan and pour the spaghetti sauce around the edges. Simmer for 5 minutes.

Boil 2 quarts of water. Add gnocchi to boiling water and cook for 2-3 minutes until gnocchi floats to the top.

Serve chicken mixture over gnocchi.

Sweet and Sassy Vegetarian Chili

Ingredients
1 1/2 white onions, finely chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 apples, diced
2 Tbsp chili powder
1 Tbsp cumin
2 tsp coriander
2 bay leaves
2 (4.5 oz) cans diced green chiles
2 cans diced tomatoes, undrained
2 cans kidney beans, undrained
2 cans black beans, undrained
2 cans corn, undrained
2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
3 Tbsp honey
1 tsp unsweetened cocoa
black pepper, to taste
cubed avocados, for garnish

Directions
Saute onion, bell peppers, garlic and apples over medium heat for about 5 minutes or until onion is translucent.

Add chili powder, cumin, coriander, bay leaves and green chilies. Stire until veggies are evenly coated.

Pour into crockpot.

Add tomatoes, beans and corn.

Add remaining ingredients (except avocados) and mix thoroughly.

Cook on high for 1 hour, or until chili reaches desired consistency.

Serve hot with avocados.

Mushroom Red Pepper Tarts

It’s hard to make tarts without a tart pan but I used an extra large muffin tin instead. These are delicious. The recipe calls for cremini mushrooms but I couldn’t find any so I just had the porcini and shiitake… who knew mushrooms could be so flavorful! I also used regular red peppers instead of roasted red peppers and sautéed them with the porcini mushrooms. I recommend substituting the half and half with the fat free version – nothing was compromised in the taste or texture as far as I could tell. Great to make a head of time and heat up for breakfast! The recipe at cookinglight.com. I also added a picture of the Spicy Peanut Noodle with Shrimp dish. Hope you enjoy!

Fresh Thyme

Life has been changing. Phil started full-time at Carlson Business School to get his MBA. I’m back full-time at YouthWorks in the Training and Programming Department. We have a new roommate, Dave. And we’ve already past our 2 year anniversary.

I’m processing what God is doing in our lives right now and it seems like he keeps leading (me) down a different path than I thought I’d be on. It’s hard to wrap my mind around it all…

Ideally we would be: Living in Thailand, working in a village, learning a new language and a different culture, being amongst the “least of these”, spreading Christ’s word through physically and spiritually.

Reality is: Living in a nice neighborhood in Minneapolis, husband going to business school to get a job in corporate America, spending every other Thursday at a homeless shelter, keeping up a garden and a home we own, spending time with people who are the same as us, volunteering at our church.

There is an ominous feeling that this “reality” is exactly where Christ wants us and needs us to be and it’s hard for me to reconcile inside my heart.

On another note, fresh herbs have revolutionized the way I cook. Because of this discovery, I considered turning this blog into food blog – testing new recipes and sharing my results – so wait and see. Here are three recipes I found from Cooking Light and they are incredible:

1. Spicy Peanut Noodles with Shrimp – Tip: Cilantro makes the dish.

2. Bucatini with Mushrooms – Tip: You can use penne noodles and it tastes great. Don’t compromise on the porcini mushrooms!

3. Theresa’s Double-Tomato Soup – SO DELICIOUS.

4. Chunky Potato Crab Chowder – Tip: I used regular corn instead of creamed corn – a little more crunch. Also, this is where fresh thyme is key for excellent flavor.

Hope you enjoy these and I’ll be back next week with Roasted Red Pepper and Mushroom Tarts.

peace in the middle east,
netolicky love

Resurrection

Chicken Tarragon Pasta

I made up this recipe tonight and it was pretty good

Marinade 2 chicken breasts in Brianna’s Lemon Tarragon salad dressing for a couple hours.
Place chicken in a deep frying pan and cook over medium heat, turning until browned.

Cook pasta as directed. I used whole wheat linguine.

Saute 1/2 cup of chopped white onions for a few minutes in a wok. Add chopped garlic (I love my garlic press for this!)
Chop broccoli florets and mushrooms… as much as you would like. Add to onions and garlic and stir-fry until broccoli is bright green.

Add linguine to vegetable mix. Add olive oil until noodles are lightly coated (probably 1-2 Tbsp). Add 1 tsp of coriander, 1 tsp of Italian seasoning (or just basil), a shake of pepper and a little kosher salt. Stir. Add 1 Tbsp of balsamic vinegar. Let vinegar soak in for a few minutes and it’s ready to serve!

I don’t use any oil or butter to saute chicken or onions, but that’s just me. The flavors are wonderful. We had it with bourdeaux wine and it complimented the flavors nicely.