rest

Partnership development and support raising has been a tiring, but refreshing process thus far. The Lord has blessed us with sweet time on the road together and great time with family. We feel physically tired, but spiritually encouraged and renewed. We are excited to see how the Lord will provide in the coming months.

Last weekend we traveled to Dallas and had some really great meetings with a group of men from Chase's parent's church, Chase's old high school buddies, my cousin & his family. God has been so good to bring about great meetings with people are really excited about His work. Chase also got to go to the Mavs game with his dad and I got to go shopping and out for a drink with the girls!

We will be in Lubbock this weekend and hope to do some yard work!

the 505!

we have started our partnership development process and our first out of town stop was Albuquerque! We had two really great & encouraging meetings and lots of fun times with family. I love going to visit family. They are such blessings to us. Here are a few pictures from the trip...

"Daffodil Days" that we bought mom from Flying Star... brings back so many memories!

Aubs & her boyfriend, Knate, at Sandiagos at the base of the tram!

Celebrating Aubs 21st birthday... finally! (it was on February 5th)...

better late than never I guess!

matching TOMS shoes. I love my "little one" even though she is not so little anymore.

Happy Birthday Aubs!

is it crazy that I still love the snow?!

after getting stuck in Clines Corners, New Mexico for 3 1/2 hours because of the snow... I still manage to love the snow!

Here is the story of our latest adventure...

Chase and I went to Albuquerque this weekend to visit my family. We left Albuquerque at 5:30 pm on Sunday evening... it was snowing a little by then, but not sticking to the ground. We had heard it was going to snow, but weren't expecting this...

this was the side of the road coming through the canyon where we started going 5 miles an hour in one lane traffic... we stayed this way all the way to Clines Corners, which is only about 45 miles from my mom's house. (but took us 3 hours) Once we got to Clines Corners we decided to pull off to see what the weather and roads were doing & to go to the restroom. Once we arrived there it started dumping snow & we couldn't see 2 feet in front of us. So we decided to wait it out for a bit...

here is the parking lot at the gas station where semi trucks were packed to sleep, (probably 50 trucks!) families were piled in the only gas station open in Clines Corners, and where Chase and I hung out for 3 1/2 hours...

we decided to just relax, hang out, & wait for the storm to let up & for snow plows to come...

we had dinner (chips & dip) and a movie! So we were set...

Finally after we saw 3 snow plow trucks drive east we decided to hit the road to Santa Rosa where we got a hotel room at the Days Inn. We arrived there around 2:00 am. Paige made herself at home & we got a good nights rest (well if you call 4 hours a good nights rest).

What an adventure! We are thankful that we made it home safely and that we were able to make the best of it!

new blog title

Chase and I have decided to call our journey to the AP, "Beyond the Desert". We came up with this because the reason we want to sell our things, pack our bags and move across the ocean is because we are hoping/praying for something beyond desert, beyond a "dry and weary land...." Psalm 63:1-3, hope for something that is better than life- Jesus. This is why we are pressing in and counting all things as loss as compared to knowing Christ.

There are days in this journey that I just want to give up all hope and quit, but then I am reminded of the cross and Jesus and the fact that He did not give up on me and that he endured so that I could also endure, that He suffered first, so I could suffer after, He was glorified so that I would find joy beyond all things in this world.

Please help us remember this truth and remind us of the reason we are on this journey. We love you all.. thanks for your support & love.

muffins...

about a month ago I went on a mini-muffin kick. I think I baked a different kind of mini-muffin every week for small group for over a month! Who doesn't love mini-muffins? You can just pop them in your mouth & not get crumbs everywhere! I wanted to share my favorite mimi-muffin recipe with you all... I got it from this blog; Taste of Every Season.

Low-Fat Pumpkin Mimi- Muffins

-Non-stick Cooking Spray (I like to use Pam Spray)

-2 cups flour (all-purpose OR White-Wheat four)

-Tablespoon baking powder

-1 tsp table salt

-1 tsp baking soda

-1/2 tsp ground cloves

-1 tsp ground cinnamon

-1 tsp ground nutmeg

-2/3 cup unsweetened OR natural applesauce (I used low-fat vanilla yogurt instead & it was great!)

-1 cup canned pumpkin (I used fresh pumpkin my friend Jord gave me)

-2/3 cup sugar

-1/2 cup fat-free egg substitute

-2/3 cup fat-free milk

-powdered sugar, for making the tops look pretty

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Coat a mini muffin tin with cooking spray. If you are using cupcake liners, do not spray the pan but spray very lightly the insides of the cupcake liner.

2. Combine flour, baking powder, salt, baking soda, cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg in a large bowl.

3. In a mixer combine applesauce, pumpkin, sugar, egg substitute, and milk in a medium bowl; mix thoroughly with a wooden spoon.

4. Stir the flour mixture into the applesauce mixer until it is all completely incorporated-do not over mix!

5. Pour batter into muffin tins. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a tester inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.

6. Let cool for about 10 minutes. sprinkle on the Powdered sugar (I used a flour sifter).

Enjoy! They are really yummy!

a day in the life of a pre-k teacher

a few weeks ago I drove down to Cahoma, Texas (small town about 1 1/2 hours from Lubbock) to join Brooke & my mom in her classroom! I had such a great time seeing Brooke "in action". She is such a great teacher and really has a passion for what she does. Her kids are lucky to haver her!

While we were there we...

• Introductions- the called me "Mrs. McGoo!" - that thought it was a pretty funny name! & they call mom "Mrs. W"... I guess Wieczorek is just too hard for 4 year olds! ;0)
• Played Letter Basketball
• Played outside
• Learned about Texas
• Decorated a Texas state flag
• Ate Snack
• Took naps (I think there was like one kid that actually slept!)
• Sang a "good bye" song

Brooke also gave me some fun ideas and websites to look at and do with Hays. We have already down a few of the activities she showed me... including out own version of letter basketball. I hope to make it out to her class a few more times before the summer!