My dad is a lawyer and used to have his own private practice and now works for the District Attorney.. .he's big time. People at work know him as the ice-pick because... well, let's just say he knows how to get his way! haha. He's put countless bad people in jail or cost them fines etc etc.. he's tough and great!
However, if any of you have seen him at home it's a little different. He often still has to be tough but with three daughters and a wife he's had to develop his softer side through the years. He took us on walks, protected us against dogs and boys, had long talks and shared truth.
My dad has yet another side... maybe a combination of the two. He's a great writer!! It wasn't until middle school or high school I even found out that my dad liked to write. I always knew he loved to read but that seems to bleed over into some amazing poetry, Sunday school lessons that are better than many published commentaries and hopefully some future books!!
He's obviously just an all around great man!
SOOOOO... here's your chance to see him in action. One of his best poems has been published and he is in a competition to win some stuff if you VOTE here
http://www.poetry.com/voteforme/poemvote1.asp?PID=12801286
SO GO NOW, VOTE!
Then you can check him out at his blog larrythompson.blogspot.com
happy reading!!
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Saturday, March 15, 2008
The Good Ole Days
Okay, I am lazy. I haven't posted any pictures from our most recent adventures... and there have been quite a few. I don't think I've posted the cake I made for Drew for VDay... it was a red velvet cake and I made it all from scratch, even the icing.
Then there is Bree Wells Proffitt's wedding. It was beautiful and such a fun time full of new friends and old memories! We
also visited our families in TX on that trip and ate plenty of Mexican food, donuts, Einsteins, and laughs... and some DP in there too!
Then to welcome us back from our warm weather week in the good ole state we got a HUGE SNOW!! It was about a foot... more or less depending on where you were. Our balcony was under atleast two feet of snow. I had never seen anything like it, except for on Mountains. It just kept coming down for two days. Our friends B&B were over having dinner and got snowed in and so we had a slumber party!! They stayed over and we made a minisnowman and snow angels!! The next day we were amazed at how deep the snow was and went sledding in our laundry baskets. We were super hilarious on those things and some one finally felt sorry for us and let us borrow som eof their 5+ sleds! It was all like a big unplanned festival. There were 100s of people on this huge hill in one of the city's main parks. It was so much fun. There were rich and poor, large and small, old and young... all sledding down the same hill with squeals of delights and terror. fun times. Then we drank hot chocolate with mini marshmellows and went out for bacon cheese burgers. Fun day!
Then back to school and life as normal has returned.
Drew has some interesting things going on, but more on that once things are more solid.
We are also getting ready for our trip to New Zealand to see Drew's best friend and roommate of at least 4 years... Joe and his loveable and beautiful wife... Emily. We can't wait to see these guys and miss them a whole ton. They are the only reason I made it through living those months in Tyler. And we can't wait to meet their new friend NEW ZEALAND!! We don't anticipate getting to do this sort of thing many times if ever again and so we are going to try to soak it all in! This also means I am cramming my time to finish all my school work for this week and for the week after we get back, since I won't be working in NZ.
Spring is around the corner, winter is in a losing battle. The rain and daffodils tell me so.
Then there is Bree Wells Proffitt's wedding. It was beautiful and such a fun time full of new friends and old memories! We
also visited our families in TX on that trip and ate plenty of Mexican food, donuts, Einsteins, and laughs... and some DP in there too!
Then to welcome us back from our warm weather week in the good ole state we got a HUGE SNOW!! It was about a foot... more or less depending on where you were. Our balcony was under atleast two feet of snow. I had never seen anything like it, except for on Mountains. It just kept coming down for two days. Our friends B&B were over having dinner and got snowed in and so we had a slumber party!! They stayed over and we made a minisnowman and snow angels!! The next day we were amazed at how deep the snow was and went sledding in our laundry baskets. We were super hilarious on those things and some one finally felt sorry for us and let us borrow som eof their 5+ sleds! It was all like a big unplanned festival. There were 100s of people on this huge hill in one of the city's main parks. It was so much fun. There were rich and poor, large and small, old and young... all sledding down the same hill with squeals of delights and terror. fun times. Then we drank hot chocolate with mini marshmellows and went out for bacon cheese burgers. Fun day!
Then back to school and life as normal has returned.
Drew has some interesting things going on, but more on that once things are more solid.
We are also getting ready for our trip to New Zealand to see Drew's best friend and roommate of at least 4 years... Joe and his loveable and beautiful wife... Emily. We can't wait to see these guys and miss them a whole ton. They are the only reason I made it through living those months in Tyler. And we can't wait to meet their new friend NEW ZEALAND!! We don't anticipate getting to do this sort of thing many times if ever again and so we are going to try to soak it all in! This also means I am cramming my time to finish all my school work for this week and for the week after we get back, since I won't be working in NZ.
Spring is around the corner, winter is in a losing battle. The rain and daffodils tell me so.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
For Bethan and her peeps...
Crockpot Lasagna Recipe
In a LARGE skillet cook 1lb ground beef with 1lb italian sausage (I use med high)
After all is 99% cooked add one large (or two regular) cans of tomato sauce (homemade or store bought)
Add 1 tiny can of tomato paste and stirrrrrrrr in
Add garlic (lots), salt, pepper and lots of italian seasonings to your taste (oregano basil etc etc)
Bring to a bubble but not for too long b/c you'll have a messy kitchen
***sometimes we sauté carrots and garlic and onions and anything else you like and add them to the sauce if we think we can get away with it without Brandon knowing.... =) (it works best if you shred the evidence... especially the zucchini and carrots)
THEN (or before) add a regular size bag of Mozzarella (I use 2% kind) and either 1 container or cottage cheese (low fat) or ricotta and some parmesan cheese and mix together. (see I don't do exact measurements!)
In your unheated crock pot put a layer of lasagna noodles, meat and cheese and repeat... sometimes I only do two layers of each and sometimes I stretch it out to three layers of each
Put in crockpot on high for 8 hours I believe... Bethan you can correct that because I'm not positive about the time. But it's great to do the morning before church
We serve it with sauteed greenbeans and homemade bread... yummmmmm!!!
Note** This will not come out in your perfect restaurant square of lasagna... so if that bothers you, you can use these same ingredients and to it in a casserole dish for about and hour and a half in your oven at 350degrees (approximately)... but this is the yummiest lasagna I have ever had!! (I don't even really like the stuff usually) and it makes TONS AND TONS!! I am pretty sure you could serve about 8 people with this stuff... the most we've done is 6 but we've always had leftovers!
ENJOY!
In a LARGE skillet cook 1lb ground beef with 1lb italian sausage (I use med high)
After all is 99% cooked add one large (or two regular) cans of tomato sauce (homemade or store bought)
Add 1 tiny can of tomato paste and stirrrrrrrr in
Add garlic (lots), salt, pepper and lots of italian seasonings to your taste (oregano basil etc etc)
Bring to a bubble but not for too long b/c you'll have a messy kitchen
***sometimes we sauté carrots and garlic and onions and anything else you like and add them to the sauce if we think we can get away with it without Brandon knowing.... =) (it works best if you shred the evidence... especially the zucchini and carrots)
THEN (or before) add a regular size bag of Mozzarella (I use 2% kind) and either 1 container or cottage cheese (low fat) or ricotta and some parmesan cheese and mix together. (see I don't do exact measurements!)
In your unheated crock pot put a layer of lasagna noodles, meat and cheese and repeat... sometimes I only do two layers of each and sometimes I stretch it out to three layers of each
Put in crockpot on high for 8 hours I believe... Bethan you can correct that because I'm not positive about the time. But it's great to do the morning before church
We serve it with sauteed greenbeans and homemade bread... yummmmmm!!!
Note** This will not come out in your perfect restaurant square of lasagna... so if that bothers you, you can use these same ingredients and to it in a casserole dish for about and hour and a half in your oven at 350degrees (approximately)... but this is the yummiest lasagna I have ever had!! (I don't even really like the stuff usually) and it makes TONS AND TONS!! I am pretty sure you could serve about 8 people with this stuff... the most we've done is 6 but we've always had leftovers!
ENJOY!
Monday, March 3, 2008
New Beginnings
My new friend Sloane!
trying to take awkward smile pictures and cracking up!
awkward smile success!!
This weekend my long time roommate and friend got hitched. It's fun when you are married and your single friends get hitched. There is a whole new variety of things to talk about!! haha. The wedding was beautiful and very unique, just like the bride. Everything went without a hitch and every one had a blast!
I was worried going into this whole thing that I was about to spend a week alone, the weird outsider from Kentucky. My friend is from a small town in West Texas as were most of her bridesmaids... and they were all blonde.
So, I prayed. I prayed that we would all be mature and Christ-like. I prayed that I would not be selfish and insecure. I prayed that I would not feel all alone and that God would give me a friend while I was there and away from my husband for the second time in two weeks. I prayed that I would serve serve serve.
God answered.
While I was back in Texas I did make friends. I got to hang out with the Bride a bunch, which was super fun. The blond west Texas girls were very friendly and didn't even make fun of me for having brown hair. haha. I was not as selfish and insecure as I was worried I would be (not claiming to be perfect by any means!). I got to serve that beautiful bride all week and make sure her life was easy as pie the week of her wedding. He also let me meet Sloane!
God is so good. I was already amazed at the way he quickly and obviously answered my prayers and then he goes and tops my requests.. showing once again he is the Father, Creator, Originator of Good gifts!! When Bree was needing an errand run or when she was with her fiance (now HUSBAND!) I got to go around with another gal... Sloane. This girl is funny, godly, beautiful, generous, hilarious, gorgeous, artistic, feminine and talented in almost every way! It all started with getting our eyebrows waxed and then we were friends for life. I laughed so hard with this girl all day every day for a week! I never thought I would leave this wedding ready to cry over some one I met the previous Tuesday! God ordained some awesome conversations between the two of us and even just today revealed another way that we were meant to meet. He is showing us how we don't even know the depths of his foresight. I can't go into all the details but God is so good and I am thankful for Sloane.
There have been low moments this past month where I was clinging to the fact that I knew God would do whatever it took to conform me to the image of Christ... and I was willing to go through low times if that meant looking more like him... and I feel double-blessed that he gave me a friend this week when I really needed one in Sloane to help conform me to his image too.
Lord, you give and take away and my heart is choosing to say BLESSED BE YOUR NAME!!!!
Blessed be the name of the LORD!
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