And She's Off

Grace started to crawl forward like a star this weekend. It was so funny because I was taking a shower at Matt's parents' house on Friday morning and I heard everyone cheering. All that cheering turned out to be because Grace started crawling. She motored right to a phone she wanted and hasn't stopped since. She even crawled up onto Matt and nose-dived right over him today. Here is a video from her first day crawling.

Happy Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend with both of our families. The events of the weekend went as follows....eat, watch football, sleep, and repeat several times:) I am only posting 2 pictures that make me very thankful even though we have 2 million things to be thankful for.

I'm very thankful that we got to spend time with my Grandpa after his health scare in June. He loves hanging with Grace.

I'm thankful for Grace's cousins. Josh is the sweetest little boy and just loves spending time with Grace and she and Jenna will have many adventures together I am sure.

Apple-Apricot Pork Chops

We just concluded Crock Pot November in our house. For the last month we have been taking Grace to swimming lessons on Monday and Wednesday from 5:30-6:00. So by the time we get home, get her fed and into bed there really isn't much time to think about cooking. I recognized this might be an issue before the month started and have been making meals in the Crock Pot on those days. We have had meatloaf, chicken Parmesan, Ruebens, and taco soup to name a few. But tonight for our last one I think I made the winner...Apple-Apricot Pork Chops. I found the recipe online and of course since I don't really follow recipes completely I modified it a bit for 2 people and for my convenience and that is what I posted below.

This recipe was super easy and delicious. The thing that made is soooo easy was my new food processor (Christmas present from Matt. But since I knew what I was getting the surprise was that I got it one month early!!!). To chop all of the food I just fed it through the giant feeding tube on my processor while using the slicing blade and it literally took less than 5 minutes to get all the chopping done. So the prep for this meal was fast! If you hand chopped it would take a little extra time but it was delicious so it would be worth it.


Ingredients

• 3 - 4 pork filets or chops (I did 3 thick cut tonight but wish I had done another for more even leftovers)
  
• 1/2 chopped apple
• 1 large handful chopped dried apricot
• 1/2 medium onion, chopped
• 4 ribs celery, sliced in 1/2-inch pieces
• 1/2 cup apple juice
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup dry sherry or dry white wine, or more apple juice (I used cooking sherry)
  
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch mixed with 2 tablespoons cold water

Preparation

Combine all ingredients (except cornstarch mixture); cover and cook on LOW for 7 to 9 hours, or 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 hours on HIGH. About 20 to 30 minutes before serving, pour liquid into a separate container to skim off excess fat. Stir in cornstarch mixture and return broth to slow cooker. Continue cooking on low until sauce is smooth and thickened.

Morning Playlist

Several weeks ago Matt created a morning playlist for our family to listen to while we are getting ready for the day. I love it and have also been adding to it. Let me know if you have any more suggestions for good morning/great day songs...

1. Good Morning by Phil Joel
2. It's a Great Day to Be Alive by Travis Tritt
3. Oh What a Beautiful Morning from the Oklahoma! Soundtrack
4. Beautiful Day by U2
5. Good Morning from the Singin' In the Rain Soundtrack
6. Good Morning Beautiful by Steve Holy
7. Good Morning Baltimore from the Hairspray Soundtrack
8. A Beautiful Morning by The Rascals
9. I Will Rise by Chris Tomlin

College Basketball

No, this is not Matt posting. :) I just wanted to put a couple picture up of Grace's first 2 college basketball games. We have been able to attend games for both Matt and my Alma mater. Even though the basketball program for Matt's school is much bigger I think I enjoyed my school's better. It brought back memories of going to games while I was in college. It was also fun because Grace got to go to that game with my parents who also went to school there and have season tickets. So I think it was fun for them too!

Grace with Mommy and Daddy at Daddy's Alma mater. Grace's 1st college basketball game ever.


With Grandpa H. at Mommy's Alma mater (also Grandma and Grandpa H.'s Alma mater).

7 Months Old

Here is our 7 month report for Grace.

Eating: Grace is a great eater. She has settled well into nursing 4 times a day and I love it. We have also added a breakfast with her first feeding and a dinner with her last one. I don't think we will add lunch until after Christmas. She eats baby cereal for both meals and fruits and veggies. She has tried sweet potatoes, peas, butternut squash, acorn squash, pears, and apples so far. She makes funny faces about the fruit but still eats it. I'm really enjoying making her food and think I will continue to do it since this stage is so short.

Sleeping: No change since last month. Grace has settled into a nice 9 am and 1 pm nap schedule with bedtime around 7. She sleeps about 3-4 hours between the 2 naps and 11-12 hours at night.

Rolling/Sitting/Crawling: I'm starting to wonder if Grace is ever going to crawl forward. She can get all the way across the room by rolling, crawling backwards, scooting, but just not the traditional forward crawl. She sees something she wants and gets it even if it is the most inefficient way to get there. We definitely have had to do some baby proofing. As soon as she got herself to a doorstop and disassembled it I knew it was time to pick things up. I love this stage though because it is fun to watch her learn and explore.

Sickies: Grace has not been sick since she was born but she got her first cold last night. She is still happy and just has a runny nose. The hardest part is she has a tough time sleeping. She was up for about an hour last night but other than that she did great. She also took a really short nap this morning. I know she needs her sleep to help recover so I wish her stuffy nose and breathing wasn't preventing her from sleeping well.


7 Month Old Friends: We had a great day at church yesterday, resting and cooking in the afternoon and then home group. Grace, Livi, and Ava were all in the nursery together at church and then hung out a home group potluck. They were all born within a few weeks of each other and I love watching them play together. I realized yesterday that for one week every month they are the same age and today was the start of that week this month. They are all 7 months old right now and it was so cute to watch them play yesterday.

Grace's New Hair Do

Lately Grace has been pulling her bows out of her hair and trying to eat them. This has been a little disturbing to me since they are small and she does it in the car seat when I am not watching her. But she needs something to hold her bangs back. They go down past the tip of her nose and bug her if they aren't pulled back. I refuse to cut her bangs. She has a beautiful cowlick right in front the she inherited from me and it was miserable having bangs with the cowlick. So, here is the solution....



I think I'm going to try tiny half-pigtails next.

Commentary On Prayerlessness

"Prayerlessness Is Unbelief", by Kevin DeYoung

Prayer is essential for the Christian, as much for what it says about us as for what it can do through God. The simple act of getting on our knees (or faces or feet or whatever) for 5 or 50 minutes every day is the surest sign of our humility and dependence on our Father in heaven. There may be many reasons for our prayerlessness—time management, busyness, lack of concentration—but most fundamentally, we ask not because we think we need not. or we think God can give not. Deep down we feel secure when we have money in the bank, a healthy report from the doctor, and powerful people on our side. We do not trust in God alone. Prayerlessness is an expression of our meager confidence in God’s ability to provide and of our strong confidence in our ability to take care of ourselves without God’s help.

Too often when we struggle with prayer we focus on the wrong things. We focus on praying better instead of focusing on knowing better the one to whom we pray. We focus on our need for discipline rather than our need for God. Almost all of us want to pray more frequently, and yet our lives seem too disordered. But in God’s mind our messy, chaotic lives are an impetus to prayer instead of an obstacle to prayer.

You don’t need to work and work at discipline nearly as much as you need faith. You don’t need an ordered life to enable prayer, you need a messy life to drive you to prayer. You don’t need to have everything in order before you can pray. You need to know you’re disordered so you will pray. You don’t need your life to be fixed up. You need a broken heart. You need to think to yourself: “Tomorrow is another day that I need God. I need to know him. I need forgiveness. I need help. I need protection. I need deliverance. I need patience. I need courage. Therefore, I need prayer.”

If you know you are needy and believe that God helps the needy, you will pray. Conversely, if we seldom pray, the problem goes much deeper than a lack of organization and follow through. The heart that never talks to God is the heart that trusts in itself and not in the power of God. Prayerlessness is unbelief.

Prayerfulness, on the other hand is an evidence of humility and faith, which is why God loves it when we pray.

(Note: this content was taken directly from Kevin DeYoung's blog -- http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/kevindeyoung/2009/11/06/prayerlessness-is-unbelief/).

Debate About Tradition

(Note this picture was taken in the men's bathroom at a local bar.)

Person 1: "Tradition is the democracy of the dead."

Person 2: "Ah, but biscuits and gravy is a great tradition!"

I declare Person 2 the winner.

And the Winner Is...

Jenna for having the first correct answer in.

Scott for being so close that his answer was almost first.

Eric for the most in depth answer and enlightening me to the fact that odometers don't turn when a car is going in reverse.

Your prize is a home cooked meal made by me. I think I make decent food so this is a good prize. I will be in contact with you to plan a day for the meal. Maybe we can all do math problems while eating.

Congrats and thank you for loving story problems.

100,000

Our 2002 Pontiac Grand Am hit 100,000 miles today while I was driving home from the gym. I bought this car back in 2003 with 33,000 miles on it and have been the primary driver until last February when we got our Jeep. I have driven or have been a passenger for most of the 67,000 miles since I bought the car. This car has not been very far from home but the most noteworthy trip it took us on was to Pennyrile State Park, Kentucky the place where the title of this blog originated. Currently, I take the car whenever I'm going out by myself and Matt is home with Grace but for the most part Matt drives it. So it was with great joy that I witnessed the rollover to 6 digits. The only annoying part is I was driving down a road with stoplights and for the whole mile it was stuck at 100,000 I hit all green lights. That never happens!

One more 100,000 mile story. Back in college I witnessed my Chevy Cavalier rollover to 100,000 miles and I was bound and determined to park it like that. So, I drove in and out of a parking space for a whole mile. So, here is your math question for the day...

STORY PROBLEM: A mile is 5,280 feet and I drove approximately 6 feet to back up and 6 feet to pull into the parking space. If I started at exactly 99,999 miles how many times did I have to back out and pull into the space before my car rolled to 100,000 miles? Also, if it took 4 seconds to back out and 3 seconds to pull in how long did it take me to accomplish this task? What was my average speed in miles per hour? (Round to the nearest hundredth).

BONUS: After I parked my car how many miles could I drive before it rolled to 100,001 miles?

The first person to comment the correct answer will win a prize. Maybe a new car. I will announce the prize and winner at a future date.

Happy Halloween

We had a great Halloween yesterday. We actually started celebrating on Friday by bringing Grace to visit Matt at work. She had fun hanging out with some of the other kids whose dads work with Matt. Then on Saturday we went to the farmer's market and hung out with Olivia in the afternoon. Grace and Olivia were so cute in their 2 matching costumes. I bought the matching flower ones for them at a consignment store and we also picked up the penguin one for $1 (the price was too good). The funny thing is Olivia's grandma bought her a penguin outfit so they had 2 matching costumes. Too fun! Finally to top off all the fun my parents came over for dinner and stayed with Grace after she went to bed so Matt and I could go to an adults only Halloween party together. Matt dressed up like our friend Adam and I was a woodland fairy.