Jerusha's Visit: Day 2

We are about ready to conclude our second day of Jerusha's visit so I'm going to recap the events of the day. First we headed to the mall to buy an outfit for Jerusha since she only had the clothes on her back (a pair of sweatpants and a green t-shirt). We picked out a cute outfit and pair of shoes that were 85% off!!!

Then we headed to Thara Thai for lunch where Matt mastered chopsticks, Jerusha nearly choked on her medium spiced green curry and we practiced our yoga balance tree pose.

Next we headed off to Adam and Erin's house so Jerusha could meet their new daughter. We enjoyed hanging out with them for a little bit.

Then we returned home so Jerusha could put on clean clothes and we could go to the library. Jerusha and I try to visit the library whenever we are together and wherever we are. So, I was proud to show off the new Champaign library to her. We spent several minutes reading so Jerusha could take in the atmosphere and we even read outside by the sign.

3-2-1 Pyramid!!! Jerusha has a slight fascination with pyramids so after the library we met up with some Quest people at the bowling alley and built a pyramid. It was amazing. Oh, and we bowled too. That was fun.

Then we headed off to Monical's for dinner and are about to enjoy a movie at home.

If you are interested in the luggage saga, Jerusha's luggage is still in Chicago and might be expected to get to Bloomington tomorrow at 11:30am. We're not holding our breath though! Matt is going to post about the luggage sometime this evening.

Jerusha's Visit: Day 1

Last night my good friend Jerusha flew in to visit and we've already had some grand adventures so I will post about it. I did not take any pictures yet so I have no photo documentation. So Jerusha was supposed fly from Cleveland to Chicago to Bloomington. She boarded her plane in Cleveland at 6:30 pm (Eastern Time) to leave at 7:00 and fly to Chicago. To make a long story short she was on the plane for 3.5 hours before they could take off and arrived in Chicago at 10:30pm (Central Time). At this point her flight to Bloomington had been canceled and she was told she could fly to Bloomington at 1:00 this afternoon. Of course, we weren't going to leave her in Chicago until today so Matt's awesome dad picked her up from the airport and drove her down to I-80 where we met them at about midnight. Thanks John for saving us about 1.5 hours of driving. Then we drove back to Champaign and went to Wal-Mart at about 1:45am. It was very empty. The funny thing is Jerusha only carried on her purse so she needed a few essentials to get through until this afternoon when her luggage arrives in Bloomington. I felt bad for Jerusha that she was on the plane for sooo long but she's so laid back it didn't damper her spirits at all. Anyway, it was great to see her and we have a lot of fun adventures planned for the weekend so stay tuned....

Amazing Meal

I'm always on the lookout for new easy recipes. Even though we have several favorites it's fun to try new things. My aunt got me a subscription to Taste of Home: Simple and Delicious for a wedding shower gift and I have found it to be very useful! I just made a great recipe from the magazine last week that we enjoyed immensely!!! The only comments I have on the recipe is I used a little less than a pound of chicken breast tenders instead of 4 giant chicken breasts (either would work) and the next time I make it I might try to add a little chili pepper for some spicy kick. But even without those changes the recipe was great. Also, I found the canned bean sprouts in the Asian food section of our grocery store (Meijer).

Chicken over Curly Noodles	From Simple & Delicious
Ramen noodles get a big pick-me-up with a simple but flavorful 4-ingredient sauce that goes perfectly with this tender chicken.
INGREDIENTS 1/4 cup packed brown sugar 1/4 cup creamy peanut butter 1/4 cup soy sauce 1 teaspoon minced garlic 1/2 cup dry bread crumbs 3 packages (3 ounces each) chicken ramen noodles 4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves (5 ounces each) 1 tablespoon olive oil 1 can (14 ounces) bean sprouts, drained	SERVINGS 4 CATEGORY Main Dish METHOD Stovetop - One-Dish PREP 15 min. COOK 15 min. TOTAL 30 min.
DIRECTIONS In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar, peanut butter, soy sauce and garlic; set aside. In a large resealable plastic bag, combine bread crumbs and contents of two noodle seasoning packets (discard the remaining packet or save for another use). Add chicken, one piece at a time, and shake to coat. In a large skillet, cook chicken in oil over medium heat for 5-6 minutes on each side or until juices run clear. Meanwhile, cook noodles according to package directions. Remove chicken and keep warm. Add peanut butter mixture to skillet; cook and stir until heated through. Drain noodles. Add noodles and bean sprouts to skillet; toss to coat. Serve with chicken. Yield: 4 servings.

Little People

I finally got some pictures off of our camera of some cool little friends we've gotten to hang out with in the last couple of months. So, from oldest to youngest (ages given are approximations at the time of the picture, you might have to give or take a couple weeks/months to get the current age).

Isn't he just the cutest. We got to visit Matt's family and see our awesome nephew Joshua (20 months) a couple of weeks ago. It was so much fun to see him and play with him.

Manning (15 months) came to visit us at the beginning of January with his parents and some other friends of ours. His friend Anya (8 months) was also present but we didn't get the camera out until after she left.

And we've made a new friend Adsen(2 weeks) in the last month. She hasn't made it over to our house yet but we're looking forward to the day she comes to visit.

So, when people ask us when we are going to start having kids my response is, "We have tons of little friends to play with, we don't need our own just yet." All in God's time:) We haven't even been married a year people!

Visit our webshots page to see more pictures I just uploaded of our little friends.

Blah

I have been at home sick for the last 2 days and thought I'd post on the blog since its been 10 days!! Sorry faithful readers. Matt and I have said several times that we should post about something but then haven't gotten around to it.

Anyway, I caught some kind of cold/flu bug and it started developing the beginning of this week. So, I decided to take a sick day yesterday in hopes that the rest would help me recover more quickly and head back to school today feeling better. Unfortunately, I woke up this morning feeling worse. So, I stayed home sick again today. Overall, i am so thankful for my health though. I rarely get sick (although this is my second time home sick for 2 days this school year) and have never had any major health issues. I am truly blessed.

Well sorry this a boring post. I need to get back to watching daytime TV.

Don't forget Abe today...

As many of you who are from Illinois probably know today is Abe Lincoln's birthday. If he were still alive he would be 199 years old today. That would be pretty old. Anyway, I have always been a pretty big fan of Abe. I did a report on him in school when I was in about 2nd grade. I still remember what I ate for lunch that day (square school pizza). I was so nervous about giving a report that I couldn't eat very much. But my love for Abe grew when about 1.5 years ago, my good friend Jerusha informed me of a giant Abe Lincoln (pictured above) near Charleston, IL. I had never heard of this monument and she wanted to visit him when she came to visit me. So, we embarked on one of the greatest journeys of our lives. It's well worth the trip to see a giant Abe. Unfortunately, neither of us had cameras at the time so the visit was not well documented. But I found a website with someone elses pictures and lo and behold the pictures are of a friend of mine who was involved in the same campus ministry as me in college. What a small world! Anyway Jerusha is coming back to visit me in a couple of weeks and we will visit Abe again with cameras in hand. Look for a future blog post on that one.

Here are a few interesting links below for this great holiday.

Abe Lincoln on Wikipedia

Abe Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield, IL

Abe Lincoln e-Greeting Card

Roadside America - Giant Abe

Happy Groundhog Day

Phil Says Six More Weeks of Winter!

Phil's official forecast as read 2/2/08 at sunrise at Gobbler's Knob:

Here Ye! Here Ye! Here Ye!

On Gobbler's Knob on this fabolous Groundhog Day, February 2nd, 2008
Punxsutawney Phil, the Seer of Seers, Prognosticator of all Prognosticators,
Rose to the call of President Bill Cooper and greeted his handlers, Ben Hughes and John Griffiths.

After casting a weathered eye toward thousands of his faithful followers,
Phil consulted with President Cooper and directed him to the appropriate scroll, which proclaimed:

"As I look around me, a bright sky I see, and a shadow beside me.
Six more weeks of winter it will be!"

Visit www.groundhog.org for more details and pictures.