Family Pictures with Lillian Prince

A few weeks ago, we were so blessed to have our family pictures taken by a wonderful and talented friend and photographer in our church, Lillian Prince. Her work is amazing and she has taken pictures of multiple families we know. I have been waiting with anticipation to have her capture some of our precious girl, Nora. We were NOT disappointed. These pictures came out great! Thank you, Lillian. We love each and every one. I posted most of the pictures Lillian took. Jonathan and I are choosing from the family shots as to which one will be our Christmas card picture, so once we decide on that, I will happily post the runners up. Until then, enjoy Lillian's beautiful work.

Also, if you are interested, check out her website: www.lillianprincephotography.wordpress.com

Nora Kathryn at 12 Months

Such a gift

Me and My Boy

True Love

Daddy's Girl

Word on the street......

As Nora is now in the beginning stages of talking, I figure I will have lots to report about her many antics and funny sayings and expressions. Therefore, I decided to start a series of blogging called "Word on the street" where I'll post some of Nora's sayings from time to time.

Here's one for ya:

At dinner tonight out at a restaurant, it appears that Nora decided she was ready to search for a new father. Every time a male waiter would come to the table to fill a glass with water, deliver food, or bring some bread, she would look up at them and say questioningly, "Da da???" They would immediately get nervous and leave the scene as quickly as possible. Good thing there's no question about who Nora's daddy is. Could she look anymore like him?

Football Thoughts

UT Football.

What can one say?

Now, I am relatively new to the state of Tennessee. I thought I knew what to expect here in regards to football. Pure Genius. You see, I'm a native Louisianan who has faithfully committed herself to the support of the LSU Tigers for many years. They have made it easy to love them. Oh, with their Death Valley and their many fight songs and their championship titles that are too many to number. In addition, I am New Orleans born and bred, one who has repeatedly ridden the rollercoaster known as the New Orleans Saints fan! There have been so many embarrassing moments, few hopeful scenarios, and even in the past few years, rare occasions when the city of New Orleans has practically SHUT DOWN because there was a glimmer of the NFL Superbowl playoffs in our future. Alas, we were disappointed.

So, in moving to Tennessee--Knoxville, mind you-- I must say my college football expectations were pretty high. Even before we knew we were moving here, I heard how the town turned orange on game days and how the pride of the team was evident everywhere. That much is totally true. I have even tried my hardest to cut ties with my loyalties down south in hopes of becoming a hardcore Vol! (It's not going to happen, fully). I've got the cute shirt and my fair share of orange in the closet. However, what I experienced yesterday was so disheartening.

We-- Jonathan, me, Amy (Jonathan's sister), and Robert Townsend--were able to go to the UT vs Florida game in Neyland Stadium yesterday. We were so pumped, so ready to cheer our heads off, sweat our socks off, run the course of our seat-induced nosebleeds. However, it was sad. I don't know where the Tennessee Volunteers were, but they didn't appear to be on the football field. Amy kept saying they were playing like a bunch of high schoolers. They were. I was truly disappointed that their was truly no sense of competition taking place. Florida ate us alive.

Despite the poor playing, we really had a great time. We were given a parking pass so that we didn't have to pay to park. However, we failed to realize that parking was about three miles from where we were going to tailgate. You come to realize that "comfortable" flipflops are not really comfortable when walking briskly through UT's campus. My feet will never be the same. We really had a lot of fun just hanging out, eating peanuts, being sunburnt on the left sides of our bodies, and singing Rocky Top just because we love UT football, whether they win or not. I enjoyed watching Jonathan get into the game and I know he just loved the fact that I asked him questions constantly because I am still learning the rules of football. It was a good day!

Thanks to Granddaddy and Granna who watched Nora for most of the day so that we could tailgate and attend the game. It's so comfortable for me knowing how much you love our girl and how much she loves you in return.

Enjoy the pics.

Amy & I tailgaiting

Jonathan & Robert (typical)

The sea of orange

Climbing the ramp

Feel the burn

So cool

So sad about the score

Riding the Three Rivers Rambler back to the parking lot

God's Big Picture

I am in the middle of a great book that I thought I would recommend to anyone looking for a good read. The book is God's Big Picture: Tracing the Storyline of the Bible by Vaughan Roberts. Now, as I said, I'm not finished yet, but so far this book has been both encouraging and helpful. I am encouraged because the author is taking his readers through a brief, yet thorough review of the Bible's history, reminding me of God's faithfulness, power, and mercy. I am helped because the author is strategic in showing how the Bible fits together. I don't know about you, but I get intimidated by my lack of knowledge of God's Word, and sometimes I feel confused and frustrated about what is going on in certain books and chapters. This book has been great at condensing and explaining the "big picture" of the Bible from beginning to end: Jesus Christ.

Here is an excerpt from the Introduction:

"I am told that when SAS soldiers parachute into unknown territory they are trained to pause before moving. They must first get their bearings and only then set out for their destination. That is wise advice for us too as we read the Bible. My aim in this book is to give you an overview of the main storyline of the Bible. It will not make you an expert in all the details of Scripture, but I hope that it will enable you to get your bearings when you land in any part of it. By the end of this book you should have the outline of the Bible's story in your mind so that, whichever part you are reading, you know where you have come from and where you are heading. That will also help you to discover how each part points to Jesus Christ and the salvation he accomplished."

I hope you are encouraged!

Lights Out

We had a fun and busy weekend. Jonathan's sister, Amy, was in town. Jonathan and Amy went to the first UT home game of the season, and Nora and I went to a birthday party. We were all pretty warn out last night. Around 9 pm, Jonathan and I were both sitting in the den checking email and playing on the Internet when the power suddenly went out. Now, we've been having rain off and on this past weekend, but it wasn't even raining when the lights went out. It's been a long time since I've been without power, and it is always the weirdest feeling. We just sat there for a minute in shock before moving to action. With the glow of the computer screens, we were able to locate our flashlight and light a few candles.

A few minutes into the darkness brought about some loud "chirping" from a small white box on our ceiling. Everytime we'd shine the flashlight on the box to see what it was, it would "chirp" louder. Jonathan grabbed a stool and tried to disconnect the box from the ceiling, thinking and hoping it was battery operated like our smoke detectors. Well, that only made the box madder....it went crazy. It was so loud, my head was spinning. Jonathan tried quickly to scramble to the garage, find his toolbox, and scrounge around for a wire cutter all in the dark and with the help of our handy flashlight. All I could do was stand there and hold my ears, praying that this obnoxious noise wouldn't wake Nora, but sure it would! How could anyone sleep through this? My hero cut the wire, causing our chirping box to fall to the floor with such noise. Thankfully, all went quiet and Nora seemed undisturbed.

We got ready for bed, since there really wasn't any other option. As we lay in bed talking about the dire possibilities of having no power for a long period of time, the lights came on again! Yeah!
No more worries about ruined food in the freezer or fridge, about not being able to conquer the enormous pile of laundry, about not being able to blow dry my hair! (I know, ridiculous). We had power again! Yeah!

So, I sit here now staring at the broken, useless, white box that was the source of some drama last night. What to do with it? I don't care, really.

Great Snack Idea

I have come to know this great snack recipe as Monkey Munch, but you may have heard of it before as Puppy Chow or some other fun name. This is an easy, easy, easy, and extremely yummy snack for the kids or Care Group. Enjoy!

Monkey Munch
9 cups of Chex cereal (I recommend Rice or Corn Chex)
1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups of confectioner's sugar

1. In a large bowl, pour in the 9 cups of Chex cereal.
2. In a medium-sized microwave safe bowl, combine chocolate chips, peanut butter, and butter. Heat in microwave for one minute. Add teaspoon of vanilla. Stir. Heat for 20 seconds more, or until the mixture is smooth.
3. Pour mixture over Chex cereal and stir gently until cereal is covered in chocolate mixture.
4. Put the Chex cereal in a 2 gallon freezer bag. Add confectioner's sugar, seal bag, and shake until cereal is coated in sugar.
5. Pour snack mix on cookie sheet lined with wax paper until cooled. Store in an air-tight container for best results.

*** Suggestion: I made a double-batch of this for Care Group recently. For variety, I purchased a box of Corn Chex and a box of Rice Chex. Each box of Chex Cereal contains 13 cups of cereal, and the recipe calls for 9 cups. So one box will give you more than enough for one batch. Enjoy!

Still Here

It has been several weeks since I've posted! We are still alive and have some recent pics to update with. We had family portraits taken with Lillian Prince this past weekend, so once we get some of those back from her, we'll be so happy to share with you!

I am so ready for fall it is NOT even funny! I keep getting Nora and me geared up for nice, breezy walks outside, but not five minutes into our venture do I want to come in from suffocation from all the humidity out there! It's not here yet, but believe you me, I will be taking advantage of the beautiful, crisp, fall weather as soon as it arrives. Anyone feeling me?

Stay tuned for more updates. Sorry for being a slacker lately!