PSA: Daylight Savings

just to let you "non-daylight savers" know (aka: all da lucky buggah's in Hawaii=) that as of yesterday (Sunday) we are now only five hours ahead of you. ...not six. so...there's a little better chance that you might just call us when we're not sleeping. Mahalo!=)

i LOVE my wife!!

Sandi and i have been married now for four wonderful months...twenty-four amazing days...twelve joyous hours...five fantastic minutes...and a few breath-taking seconds.

...it has been GREAT!

thank you Jesus for the wondrous gift of Sandi to me!=)

The can that LOST!

last night i was almost finished making my cabbage soup when i stumbled upon a problem. the second to the last ingredient was "1 cup canned tomatoes drained and chopped." i thought it would be simple enough. i got out our pampered chef can opener (it's the white handled one in the pics) and proceeded to open the can. after several very unsuccessful attempts i realized that the ridge of this particular can of tomatoes was too thick to fit into the grooves of the can opener.

so then i looked for our old can opener...the one we used until our pampered chef can opener arrived (thanks mom, grandma, and sarah!!=). this can opener opens the cans differently than the pampered chef one and so i thought it would work. it didn't. "you've got to be kidding," i thought to myself. so close to cabbage soup...and yet there lay a thin sheet of metal between me and my tomatoes.

i quickly came to the conclusion that there would be no nice way of getting to the tomatoes. so, i got out the tools. the screwdriver was of little use. but i realized that if i scored the edges with the old can opener i could pry the lid open with the hammer. and that's what i did. VICTORY! ...and the soup wasn't bad either!=)

here are some picutures of the can's defeat for your viewing pleasure...

beef stew was broke da mout'!!

this is our first beef stew attempt. ...was ono!! i got the recepie online. it was easy and tasty! ...and since we have all that beef in our freezer, i told sandi that we'd be having more beef stew in the future. she was just fine with that! ...i am too!!

there was a lot of excitement and anticipation as we first started the cooking process. (i was hoping it would turn out alright). we followed the directions and left it to simmer. about half an hour later we smelled it. ...the beautiful beef stew aroma began to waft throughout our home. it was great!

sandi and the stew...


fresh in the pot...

ready fo' eat!

more fall...

here's the view accross the street from our church. the "fall feeling" is definitely in the air now more than ever. winds are blowing...leaves are falling...temperatures are dropping...trees are turning color...

...there is something breathtaking about clusters upon clusters of trees that look like they're on fire. ...extremely beautiful!

Apple Picking

three weeks ago sandi's sister (cori) and brother-in-law (ian) became our first visitor's ever. we spent a wonderful week together doing all sorts of neat stuff. one of the neat "stuffs" we did was pick apples at an orchard. as you can see it was a beautiful day, and the apples were ripe for the picking.



a beautiful girl picking a beautiful apple...

me picking an apple...

like i said, we did other neat stuff during our time with cori and ian. hopefully i'll get those pictures up soon. until next time...

p.s. there is an apple called the "Mcquin" (...i think that's how it's spelled??) ...it may be the best apple i've ever tasted!

Gratitude expressed in COW!!

two weekends ago sandi and i went to help one of the women in our care group with a yard sale. this was no ordinary yard sale. Rachel works with teenage moms. they all live together in a beautifully renovated two story home. every year they have a huge yard sale to sell all of their donations that they recieve throughout the year.

set up began on friday morning and went throughout the day and into the evening. the sale was the next day. all in all the sale was great success. Rachel tells us that they made more this year then they ever have in the past.

after the post-sale cleaning was completed on saturday, Rachel took sandi and me on a tour of the house and barn. the barn was great! two stories...huge...really old and weathered wood...old newspaper still tacked to the wall in some places...a huge wood burning stove that went from floor to ceiling...a huge work surface that stretched a good length of the barn (probably40-50 feet) with old tools, mounted vices, and big old wooden drawers. it was almost like stepping back in time. as we walked through the barn, Rachel told us of the many ways that God provided for them--from clothes to brand new furniture, to donated labor and materials for the extension on their home, to a gazebo just recently built on the property, to cow. "cow??!!" now she had my attention. "what do you mean, 'cow?'" i asked. she went on to say that every year someone buys a cow, has it slaughtered and donates all the meat to the home and the ministry that goes on there. how cool is that!! the idea that someone would give a cow, in it's entirety (well, almost), to a ministry that serves teenage moms just made my day!

well, the tour was reaching its end. it just so happened that the last room on the tour of the house was the pantry. it was a good sized room. on one wall there were shelves that went about six feet high loaded with canned goods and non-perishables. then she showed us the freezer. it was one of the rectangular ones that you can open from the top and peer into. it was also good sized. she opened it up, and we peered into it. cow! ...and about 5 frozen turkeys. then she handed us a box...and started loading it with cow.=) now, sandi doesn't get excited about things like cow, but i do! and i was very excited!! (but, sandi does get excited about other things like bagels...and i don't. but we got a big bag of them to take home too! ...so we were both excited!) Rachel may not know it (because she is not a lover of cow) but she could not have thanked us any more appropriately. in fact, we could not stop thanking her for her generous gifts to us.

the lesson here? to the right person, cow is a priceless gift and the ultimate display of gratitude. thanks again, Rachel! may God bless you and the girls you serve this next year!!


COW!!

OUR FREEZER WITH NEWLY ACQUIRED COW!!

...i'm off to make some beef stew!!=)

FALL... i took this picture last week. well, it took awhile (according to the locals here), but fall is definitely here. there still are quite a few green trees, but there are some that look like they are on fire! yellows...reds...oranges... it really is a beautiful time of year! hope to have more pics soon.