I'm not that interesting

So my life is not that interesting as of late. But I actually remembered to blog and wanted to. So what does one blog about when their life is not interesting? Whatever I want :)

One thing I love about living at home with my parents is the fun late nights Brett and I spend talking with my dad! The 3 of us are all a bad influence on one another because we stay up way to late chatting away, but it has really been a highlight of my time at home. I am thankful for Brett who is a HUGE question asker. So of course, he asks my dad questions about life that I would have never even thought to ask, because....he's my dad. And I already know him. RIGHT?! Well, actually I've learned a TON about my dad's childhood, passions, work, and just his life in general. It's really fun. Hopefully the feeling is mutual :).

Tonight Brett and I made dinner for my parents. We try to do this often since they are letting us stay in their house, but we have realized that we have more night/dinner appointments with ministry partners than we thought, so this is actually only the 3rd time we've cooked for them. OOPS. Anyway, I combined several different recipes and made garlic-lime chicken (idea taken from Brett's cousin Kimberly, who got the recipe from Pioneer Woman) with a Mango-Peach salsa/relish to go on top (Brett's sister Julia made this for a family gathering and I loved it!). We had sides of cilantro-lime rice and crescent rolls. Absolutely delicious other than going a little heavy on the cilantro. It was fun to cook since we haven't in a while and to try out a new dish that was easy and inspired by people I love. I'll leave you with the recipe!

Click HERE to get the chicken recipe. The Pioneer Woman made this with a corn relish, but I changed that out and did the Mango-Peach salsa because I had loved it so much when Julia made it.

Here is what I used for the Mango-Peach salsa, all props to Julia Marcos:
2 mangos (slice to small sqaures)
1 peach (slice to small squares) - I added this to Julia's recipe b/c I like peaches - and I was slightly afraid that the mango wasn't good so I wanted the peach to balance it out - ha!
1/4 red onion (cut up finely)
1/4 cup of cilantro (cut up to small pieces)
1 tablespoon of lime juice
salt and pepper to taste

Mix it all together and put a spoonful over the chicken :)

The Salsa - I also love that it's colorful!

And for the rice I just went to good old allrecipes.com. Click HERE for that recipe. We used minute rice though :)

Until next time,

Kim

Houston

Once again I'm back to the feeling of "it's been too long since I've blogged, WHAT DO I WRITE ABOUT?!". I can't believe a whole month has gone by. Well lots has happened so I'll give you the BRIEF update!

We are currently in HOUSTON as we raise our financial support to get to our new ministry assignment at LSU (yay!) . I've lived in Houston my whole life until college, but I've learned the city more in the past 3 weeks than I ever have in my whole life! We've been seeing lots of people on all different sides of town which = LOTS of time in the car.

Before we got to H-town we stopped in Lubbock and moved all of our stuff into a U-haul and then drove it down here where it currently sits in a not-so-beautiful storage unit.

We also celebrate our 1 year anniversary on July 31! It was really fun! We went to downtown Houston, got massages, ate at a fancy place, got dessert at the Cheesecake factory (which it was national cheesecake day so it was 1/2 off...who knew they did that just for our anniversary ;) ), stayed at a high rise hotel and had a wonderful brunch the next morning. Brett planned the whole thing and it was sooo good to relax before getting started on our support raising journey!

So now, here we are, we are in the middle of week 4 of raising support. The Lord is teaching us a LOT about His provision for us, relying and TRUSTING on Him, and how to love one another well in the midst of spending 24 hours a day 7 days a week with one another. Literally :).

A few of my favorite things about living in Houston for the time being:

1. We get to see our family often: my parents (we are living with them), my sister and bro-in-law (they live 10 min. from us), Brett's sister Julia (we've had several family gatherings), Brett's sister Jessica and her husband Griffin (we are currently staying with them for a few days since a lot of our appointments have been near their apartment), Brett's parents (they are in the states a little longer before they go back to Italy)
2. We see my cute niece almost everyday since my mom is her nanny. I love her so much I can't stand it!
3. We've eaten lots of good food
4. We live in a CITY and I like that a lot - even though we may drive 45 minutes to get somewhere, those 45 minutes feel a LOT closer than the 45 min. from Lubbock, TX to Post, TX :)
5. Getting to connect with lots of people I don't see on a regular basis

And really there is just one main thing I am not liking:

1. HEAT + HUMIDITY 

So there is my mini update. I don't promise to write more often although I DESIRE to do so :)

Until next time,

Kim