D.C. Snowpocalypse 2010

The weatherman got this one right! We got hit big time and we’re still pretty much snowed in. In D.C. we got 24 inches, that’s 2 feet. They haven’t plowed our street yet, and we’re not sure when or if they will. It’s a mess, but it’s kind of fun too!

I was tempted to just stay inside, but I couldn’t help myself. I had to get out in it and play a little

Elijah didn’t quite know what to do with all this snow…of course, neither did we!!

The mounds of snow were way over Elijah’s head. Mountains of snow everywhere.

“What is all this stuff?” Notice Elijah’s gone all gangster with one pant leg up and one pant leg down!

Some of our friends stopped by, so we got a family photo!

Here are some more pictures of the winter wonderland on Girard Street (our street)

Mountains of cars

Our house

Our car

Our porch

Our view

Winter Wonderland

City sidewalks

Another view

Weatherman says we are expecting more snowfall on Tuesday night…fun times!

Lent

Every year for Lent I try to either eliminate something from my life or add something to my life that I will see as a challenge. The challenge forces me to enter into a deeper relationship with God, because it causes me to pray more and opens me up to hear more from God.

This year I’m going drastic….I’m going VEGAN!! A vegan diet means eliminating all animal products (i.e. meat, eggs, dairy) from my diet. Living in a major city, going vegan is not as difficult because there are lots of vegan options. However, it will still be difficult for me.

I am going to blog about my journey, including recipes and even particular brands of food, but I’ve set up a new blog so that it can be separate. If you’d like to follow my journey, here’s the link to my Vegan for Lent blog: www.veganforlent.wordpress.com. I’ve already started integrating vegan options into my life and I’m excited about going all the way.

In the meantime, we have about 18 inches of snow on the ground and it is still coming down. So, my next post on this site will have pictures of all this white stuff!!

Raise up Holy Hands

When Elijah was about 9 months old we introduced him to the praise song, Raise up Holy Hands. We hadn’t sung it for a while and then just yesterday Aaron started playing it on the guitar and singing it, immediately he raised his hands as if he was praising the Lord. Here’s our little guy, raising up holy hands:

He’s got his “I’m really into this” face on!

He got his praise on all around the living room!

Of course, we do have our silly moments too!

Elijah LOVES using daddy as an amusement park ride! Of course, Daddy doesn’t mind!

One of Elijah’s favorite activities is to open and close our front door. Of course, it is much more fun when Mommy is on the other side of the door. He thinks it is hilarious to “close mommy out.” Lots of fun!

Our little baller. Aaron can hardly wait to get him a hoop.

This picture reminds me of my days working with urban youth…Elijah’s like “Sup, ya’ll?”

My sweet little guy!

The story of one whole chicken…

So, one of my unofficial New Year’s Resolutions is to spend less and be more efficient with what I do spend. I say “unofficial” because I really just made this resolution this week.

On Tuesday I went to Costco and purchased two fresh whole chickens for $8.24. I froze one of them and then decided that I would try to make as many meals from one chicken as possible.

Tuesday night I baked the whole chicken in a 9 x 13 baking pan with salt, pepper, butter and a few other spices. I baked it for about 1.5 hours covered and then 30 minutes uncovered. It turned out perfect. I cut all the chicken off the bone and saved the bone. That night we had some of the chicken with carrots, broccoli, and biscuits.

After dinner, I took the bones, placed them in a medium sized stock pot, covered them with water, and let them simmer for 2 hours…the result was about 7-8 cups of chicken broth.

Wednesday night I made Chicken Tortilla Soup. It was DELICIOUS! Using some of the leftover chicken and some of the broth, it made the best soup (I’ll include the recipes below).

Thursday night I made Chicken Biscuit Pie. This was my last meal with the chicken (I saved and froze 2 cups of broth). Again, it was a great success!!

Aaron LOVED all three meals!

Here are the recipes for the Tortilla Soup and Chicken Biscuit Pie:

Tortilla Soup:

Ingredients

1. 1 onion, chopped
2. 2 Tbsp minced garlic
3. 1 tablespoon olive oil
4. 2 teaspoons chili powder
5. 1 teaspoon dried oregano
6. 1/2 teaspoon cumin
7. 1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
8. 3 Cups Chicken Broth
9. 1 1/2 cups whole corn kernels, frozen
10. 1 (4 ounce) can chopped green chile peppers – (I didn’t have this so I didn’t include it.)
11. 1 (15 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
12. 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro – (I used 1/8 Cup of dried cilantro)
13. 1.5 Cups of cooked chicken, shredded or cut up
14. crushed tortilla chips
15. shredded Monterey Jack cheese
16. chopped green onions

Directions

1. In a medium stock pot, heat oil over medium heat. Saute onion and garlic in oil until soft. Stir in chili powder, oregano, cumin, tomatoes, broth, and water. Bring to a boil, and simmer for 5 to 10 minutes.
2. Stir in corn, hominy, chiles, beans, cilantro, and chicken. Simmer for 10 minutes.
3. Ladle soup into individual serving bowls, and top with crushed tortilla chips, avocado slices, cheese, and chopped green onion.

Chicken Biscuit Pie

Ingredients

1. 1/3 cup butter
2. 1 onion, chopped
3. 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
4. 1 1/2 cups chicken broth
5. 2/3 cup milk
6. 1/2 teaspoon salt
7. 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
8. 1 cup frozen corn
9. 1 cup frozen chopped broccoli
10. 2 cups cooked, shredded chicken meat
11. 2 cups all-purpose flour – (I used Bisquick instead of making biscuits with the following ingredients)
12. 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
13. 3/4 teaspoon salt
14. 5 tablespoons shortening
15. 3/4 cup milk

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C). Butter a 2 quart casserole dish.
2. In a medium bowl, mix together 2 cups flour, baking powder, and 3/4 teaspoon salt. Cut in shortening until mixture is crumbly. Stir in milk just until dough is moistened, then drop by spoonfuls onto chicken mixture.
3. In a large saucepan, saute chopped onion in the butter. Stir in flour and cook for 1 minute. Add chicken broth and milk. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Cook for 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Add frozen peas and carrots and cooked chicken. Pour into buttered 2 quart casserole dish.
4. Bake at 450 degrees F (230 degrees C) for 12 to 15 minutes, or until biscuits are golden brown, and cooked on the bottom. This tends to bubble over so I place a piece of aluminum foil under the pan to catch the drips.

Here are the links to the recipes that I used. I modified them slightly to fit my tastes and what I had in the house, but this can be a reference if you want to try them:

Chicken Tortilla Soup: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Chicken-Tortilla-Soup-I/Detail.aspx

Chicken Biscuit Pie: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Chicken-Biscuit-Pie/Detail.aspx

That $4 chicken went a LONG way…and I still have 2 cups of Chicken broth in the freezer!!

Merry Christmas from WV

This Christmas we had a full house. My mom, dad, brother, sister-in-law and nephew were in Huntington when we arrived. In our car, we brought me, Aaron, Elijah, Terrence, and our friend Justin. Justin is originally from Hong Kong and was unable to return for the Holidays, so he came to Good Ole’ WV. I can hardly believe we fit everything in the car! Thank goodness we gave away more than we received this year.

Our family in front of the Christmas tree.

Christmas dinner, we had more food than we knew what to do with.

Christmas dinner, the other side of the table. Of course, my mom is stuck taking most of the photos.

Mom made one photo! Christmas morning, BEFORE present madness.

Our 2nd annual Christmas ping pong tournament. Tim, my nephew, and Terrence were up first.

Tim and Aaron made it to the finals, and Aaron won, but not without a valiant fight from Tim.

Little man wearing his Santa hat.

“Am I too young to play Santa?”

Here I am warming myself by the “fire.” Every year we watch/listen to the Yule Log. My brother finally just bought a DVD of the Yule Log with Christmas music. Doesn’t produce a lot of warmth, but it is nice in the background. I was sporting a tunic with leggings, not sure I can pull that look off, but it sure is comfortable!

Instead of everyone buying gifts for everyone, we do a white elephant gift exchange. The gifts are $25 or less and we play a little game to see who gets what. It can often be a little competitive and some of us (me) choose to hide their gift so no one will steal their gift. This is Justin opening his white elephant gift….not sure it’s what he wanted, but it was fun to see what he got.

My white elephant gift was two games, Say Anything and 3D Blockus. I really wanted to keep them, but I’m pretty sure my brother wanted to steal them from me. In the end, he kept his gift and let me keep mine!

My brother opening his first white elephant gift…which was eventually stolen. Not to worry, he ended up with a pretty good one!

Cousins

We had a fantastic Christmas day! Fun was had by all.

Elijah’s buddy

We are so fortunate to live in such a diverse neighborhood. We love to be surrounded by people from different places and walks of life. Here’s a picture of Elijah’s little buddy who lives next door. His name is Oscar and his family is from El Salvador. We hope Elijah will pick up a little Spanish as they play. Oscar is a year older than Elijah, but he LOVES Elijah. Every time we see him Oscar says, “Elias? Elias?” Elias is Elijah in Spanish.

Oscar and Elijah – December 2009

Good buddies.

Friends

Oscar’s Family

Christmas with Aaron’s family

Since our families are in two different states, we usually celebrate Christmas twice, once with Aaron’s family and once with mine. Last weekend, during the blizzard, we celebrated with Aaron’s family. Saturday morning, we woke to LOTS of snow, where we had a brunch which included, spinach and mushroom quiche, cinnamon scones, and mixed fruit. After brunch, we opened presents and had a lovely time. In the evening, we had Christmas dinner, which included Turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, broccoli casserole, green beans, rolls, and chocolate fudge pie. It was all delicious!! After dinner we circled around the Advent wreath and sang some Christmas carols with the guitar. All the while, the snow  looked like a winter wonderland.

Here are some pictures of our time together.

Elijah with his “teacher” face.

Daddy and Elijah

Mommy and Elijah

Elijah snuggling with his Poppy (Aaron’s dad).

Elijah playing ball with his Mimi (Aaron’s mom).

Aunt Emily holding her present from Elijah.

Aunt Emily and Uncle Peter got Elijah his first “lego” set. He loves to tear them a part, but hasn’t gotten the hang of putting them together yet.

Uncle Peter opening one of his presents.

Aaron playing Mr. Napkin Head (it’s from the movie The Holiday)

Mimi and Poppy got Elijah his first drum…I think he’s a natural.

Getting Elijah ready to tackle the snow!

If you overlook the boogies in his nose, this is a really sweet picture showing all of Elijah’s teeth. Usually we just see the bottom teeth.

Elijah still loves his Fire Truck, which he got for his 1st Birthday.

D.C. Blizzard of 2009

Last weekend we had record snow fall in D.C. From 9 PM Friday night until around 8 PM Saturday night, it snowed…a lot!! It was so beautiful. Aaron’s family came up a day early to arrive before the snow began. Here are some photos of Elijah’s first snow/blizzard experience.

Daddy introducing little man to the snow. Daddy hopes that little man likes the snow as much as he does!!

Elijah said, “Seriously dad, it’s cold out here!!”

“C’mon dad, let’s go get some hot chocolate.”

The verdict….he loved it! Maybe next year his big boots will actually fit!

Merry Christmas!!

I’ve already posted this picture, but this is our “Christmas Picture,” so I thought I’d repost it with our list of Happenings for 2009.

The Top Ten Happenings of 2009

10.         Elijah – Our little boy has had a year full of accomplishments. He learned how to walk, eat solid foods with his hands, drink with a straw,  clap his hands, climb the stairs, and give kisses. He has been busy!!

9.               Guests, Guests, Guests! – Living in D.C. has given us the opportunity to fine tune our hosting abilities. Its great living in the nation’s capital because so many people pass through and we have been fortunate to host lots of our friends in our little home in the hood.

8.               Living closer to family – Although our family is not across the street or across town, we are much closer to our family now than we were living in Boston. Of course the grandparents enjoy being having us closer so they can see Elijah a little more often. We also use Skype.

7.               Elijah’s Birth Family – This summer when we traveled to SC to finalize Elijah’s adoption, we had the privilege of spending a couple of hours with Elijah’s birth family. We met and played at McDonald’s and had a fantastic time. We hope to see them again.

6.              Small Group – This summer we started hosting and leading a small group in our home. Most everyone who is a part of our group is within walking distance of our house. It has been such a blessing to get more connected to those living in our neighborhood.

5.               Dallas Justice Revival – Aaron took 20 trips to Dallas in the last 16 months and brought the city’s pastors together around the issues of public education and homelessness. The Justice Revival took place November 10-12th and leaders representing 1,000 churches in the area came together in a historic way for the sake of the city.

4.               Seminary – Aaron was accepted into a Doctorate of Missiology program at Fuller Theological Seminary and will begin studies in January. The program long-distance, except for two weeks a year which will take place on Fuller’s campus.

3.                The saga of Amy’s foot! – Amy injured her foot in July 2008…long story short, it’s been a difficult road to  recovery which included, a boot for 3 months, a cast for 6 weeks, many trips to the doctor and physical therapy. The foot is still not healed, but we’re getting closer.

2.               Baby # 2. Yes, that’s correct. We have officially started the adoption process for baby number two. Our home study should be complete soon and then we will be waiting for a potential birth to choose us!

1.               You!  – We are so thankful for you. We are able to continuing doing ministry locally and nationally because of the great friends and family we have. Thank you for believing in us.  We love you!

May God bless you abundantly in the New Year!

Love,

Aaron, Amy, and Elijah

Peace

Elijah has been playing with one of Aaron’s old knit caps. When he wears it we think he looks very “urban.”

Just imagine some long dreads stuffed up inside that cap!

Our little peace advocate

“Hey mom, can we take this cap off now? Thanks!”