2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds,3 because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.4 Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
Wow. Those verses are so powerful. How hard is it to consider your trials pure joy? I know that this is something that I struggle with. No matter how big or small the trial is, it is not always easy to be joyful. I tend to complain or whine about whatever it is to my poor husband. However, I know that God is using trials in my life to draw me closer to Him, and this my friends, is joyful. God is using trials in my life to show me that I am in no way in control. As a control freak, this can also be scary at times, but in my heart I know that this is the best way. God is God, and I am not. He knows what is best for me. His timing is perfect. He knows His plans for me. It doesn't matter what I want (although sometimes I have a hard time remembering that).
It has snowed for several days in a row here, so I thought I would post some pictures of our cruise in August 2010 to remind me of warmer weather. We finally got to go to the Western Caribbean without a hurricane rerouting us. Our stops were Labadee, Haiti; Ocho Rios, Jamaica; Georgetown, Grand Cayman; and Cozumel, Mexico.
We didn't have an excursion in Labadee. We just enjoyed the beach and walked around the market area. This was quite an experience. One guy told us to make him any offer on a souvenir, and he would accept it. When we did, he laughed at us and told us that he had a family to support. He was quite persistent, and we did end up buying some things from him.
In Ocho Rios we took a river tubing excursion. The water was soooo cold!!! This idea had never even entered into my brain. I thought, "Water in Jamaica, it must be warm." HA! The ride down the river was beautiful! After we finished, we enjoyed some Jamaican jerk chicken and some shopping.
In Georgetown we took a beach excursion. It was wonderful! I love going to the beach, and I particularly love it when it is in the Caribbean. The water there is so clear and beautiful! God really is an awesome Creator! Grand Cayman is a neat place. They have no unemployment because everyone there believes that they should work, and they are determined to find some sort of work. There are other neat things about living there, but I forget what they are right now. :0(
Finally, we went to Cozumel! This was our favorite stop on this cruise. I absolutely loved Cozumel, and I definitely would have liked to have had more time there. The excursion we went on there was also our favorite excursion (quite possibly of all time). We went to a beach resort area and took a traditional Mexican food cooking class. We made an appetizer (it is hard to explain what it was), fish wrapped in banana leaves, and rice pudding for dessert. It was all delicious!!! We got the recipes, and we have since made the rice pudding at home. If you know me, you know that I love to cook. This was my kind of excursion! What you may not know is that my husband also enjoys cooking. He typically wants to help me anytime I am in the kitchen. I love it!!!
We also enjoyed our days at sea when we just got to spend time on the cruise. Our cruise director, Graham, was awesome! This time we tried a balcony room. Oh my! I don't know if we can ever go back to any other room now. Royal Caribbean did a great job again of providing us with an excellent vacation!!!
Now my only question is, when is our next one???
Thanks, God for allowing us to have this opportunity and for giving me a fantastic husband that I love spending time with!
Hello, World! Wow, I can't believe it's been over 9 months since I have blogged. I'm sorry! A lot has happened since then, and I am excited to start blogging again. Hopefully, I will be more consistent this time (although I know I have said that before). Life hasn't really slowed down too much, but every little bit helps. This blog is unlike my husband's blog (http://newradicalreformation.blogspot.com). His is well thought-out, and highly intelligent. Mine is more about our daily lives, and I hope to share some of what God is teaching me lately. I pray that through this my readers will be able to understand me better and see God through me more.
In the last 9 months I have... - Grown closer to God (though I still have far to go) - Finished all of my classes for my Masters degree in Marriage & Family Therapy! - Almost completed my internship! I have greatly enjoyed learning to counsel couples and individual adults! - Rented out our condo to a wonderful medical student! - Bought a house! - Passed my comprehensive counseling exam! (I had to pass this to graduate, and it covers all of the classes I have taken for my Master's degree). - Gone on a cruise! - Gone to several football games! - And I'm sure much more!
I have pictures of many of the above happenings, and I plan on posting them soon. I just wanted to give a brief update, so you would know that I still exist. Plan on hearing more from me soon!
Today I made this recipe for Salsa Chicken. I am happy to say that it was much better than I expected!
Slow-Cooker Salsa Chicken
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts 1 cup salsa 1 package taco seasoning 1 can reduced fat cream of mushroom soup (condensed) or cream of chicken soup (I used cream of chicken). 1/2 cup reduced fat sour cream
Add chicken to slow cooker. Sprinkle taco seasoning over chicken (I didn't use the whole package, and I was really happy with the way it turned out). Mix salsa and soup and pour over chicken. Cook on low for 6 to 8 hours. Shred chicken with a fork. Stir in sour cream until heated, then serve over rice or tortillas.
I served mine with rice. I didn't shred the chicken, and we just added the sour cream to our own pieces of chicken. Also, I topped mine with shredded cheddar cheese once it was plated. Next time I am going to try adding a can of corn to the recipe. My husband said this was one of his favorite recipes that I have made so far, so I definitely think I will be making this again. Let me know if you try it! It was super easy, and quite good.
Today marks the start of another new semester. It also officially marks the start of my internship, even though I was able to start a few weeks ago. I have a feeling this is going to be crazy! The main things I have to juggle are: time with God, my marriage, family, friends, church, school, work, internship, and trying to keep my house somewhat clean. That's nothing, right? I'll just keep trying to tell myself that. Thankfully, I only have one 8-week class this semester, which means by the middle of March I can cross school off of that list. Woohoo!
Oh, and did I mention that Baby Emma was born? She belongs to our wonderful friends Daniel and Carla. I am sooooo excited for them! She is absolutely beautiful!
As I mentioned in my previous post, I made a turkey breast in the crockpot the other day. It was very good, but there are a few things I might do differently next time. I meant to take a picture of it and be all cool like that, but I forgot (shows how cool I really am), so I will just post the recipe.
Crock-pot Turkey Breast
1 turkey breast (6 to 6-1/2 pounds) - (honestly, I don't even know how big ours was.) 2 tsp vegetable oil - (I didn't measure this. I just used enough to coat the turkey.)
Salt and pepper, to taste - (I used a TON of pepper.)
1 medium onion 4 garlic cloves - (I used 6 cloves because my husband is obsessed with garlic.)
1 stick of butter
Remove all of the packaging from the turkey breast. Mine had a gravy packet, and it was wrapped in netting. You can also remove excess skin if you want, I did. Rinse the turkey and pat it dry with paper towels. Rub the turkey all over with oil. Sprinkle the breast lightly with salt and pepper to personal preference. I basically covered mine in pepper because I enjoy cracked-pepper turkey.
Place the breast, meaty side up, into a slow cooker.
Peel the onion, cut it into quarters, and place the pieces around the edges of the pot. Peel the garlic cloves and place them around the sides of the cooker. Melt the stick of butter and pour it over the turkey. Cover the cooker and cook the breast on low for 9 hours, or until the meat thermometer registers 170 degrees. I waited the full 9 hours, and it was actually well past 170 degrees. I probably should have checked it sooner. Remove the breast from the cooker and wait at least 10 minutes before slicing. (The internal temperature will continue to rise). Discard the vegetables in the cooker. Serve the breast sliced, with or without skin.
You can use the drippings to make gravy if you want. The gravy packet that came with the turkey suggested mixing some in with that, so I tried that method. It turned out pretty well.
Note: If the turkey breast is not frozen, check for doneness (170 degrees) with a meat thermometer after 7-1/2 to 8 hours of cooking on low. Be sure to wash your hands well with soap and water immediately after handling raw poultry. Wash sink and counter surfaces the meat touches with soap and hot water.
If you do not use the entire turkey in the meal you can refrigerate, covered for 24 hours before chopping the meat and freezing. Place the meat in a freezer-weight plastic bag and freeze for up to 2 weeks.
Adjustments:
I saw some recipes that called for chicken broth to be poured in the slow cooker prior to putting the turkey breast in there. I had every intention of doing this but it turned out that I didn't have any. I will probably try that next time to see what it adds to the recipe. I may stick to the 4 cloves of garlic instead of the 6 next time. However, I will have to ask my garlic-obsessed husband about it first.
Overall, I thought it was very good. It may not be the slow-cooker turkey recipe that I always use, but it was quite tasty.
Wow. I don't even know if anyone reads this anymore since I haven't blogged in 9 months. Sorry about that. Once again, I am going to try to be somewhat consistent with this. I am not promising to blog every day, but I will try to do it more than every 9 months.
The Christmas season just ended, and it was fabulous! I had so much fun getting together with friends and family to celebrate. After Christmas, Tanner and I went on a mini-vacation to Atlanta for a few days. We went to an NBA game, the Georgia Aquarium, Ruth's Chris Steakhouse, the Chickfila Bowl, and celebrated New Year's on the MARTA. It was such a fun trip! Here are some pics of our fun taken with our new camera:
Lebron and Shaq getting ready for the tip-off.
Jump Shot!
Shaq was on the kiss-cam. Usher was there. Jellyfish
Cute Hubby!
Huge manta ray and whale shark! We lost, but it was still fun to be there. Go Vols!
Today I am making a turkey breast in the crock-pot. If we like it, I'll post the recipe on here soon.
