Sunday Lunch

I revised/added to/took away from/ was inspired by a recipe on the back of a pasta box, and came up with a delicious Sunday lunch.
First, in case you don't know my cooking style it's this. EASY, cut corners, quick. I'm not really proud of that, I'd like to be the chick who can pull Sunday dinners from the pages of magazines, but in reality, I usually find a recipe like this:
recipezaar.com
search: "Easy ____" fill in the blank. I actually preface all searches with "easy."

Okay, so back to the yummy lunch:

Make 1/2 to 3/4 box of whole wheat linguine. I threw in 2 chicken bouillon cubes, because you need chick broth later, and this seemed easier.

In the mean time, chop up a couple pieces of bacon, I think I used about 5...and cook them in a LARGE skillet until your desired crispiness. Then add a cut up onion, and 2-3 minced garlic cloves and cook 3-4 more minutes.

When the pasta is finished, drain, reserving 1-1 1/2 cups of the now broth.

Add the broth to the skillet, and cook another minute, getting all the good bacon and garlic and onion goo off the bottom, then add about 1/2 a bag of spinach--more if you want, until just wilted. Next I added a cup or so of chopped up tomatoes, because they were in the fridge left over from tacos...good idea Terri!

Add the pasta and toss...

Take off the heat, and throw in a handful or, let's be honest, as much Feta as you can. I topped it with pepper and this really good roasted garlic and sea salt that my mom got at Costco--but just salt works.

I should have taken a picture, but I was too busy putting it in my belly.

Make it, then tell me what you think.

What just happened?

All of May, that's what.

So, it's true that I had lofty ideas of being an awesome blogger and spilling out the stories of my life here. But it seems like this has become a digital format of my physical journals, and hot dang it's been weeks since I've recorded all that life has thrown my way.

The thing is, all these events, that I am going to catch you up on in a second, demand much more than I am going to give them...but perhaps it's all these big things that can't really be over explained or written about....so I am going to stick with that saying, "a picture is worth a thousand words..."

May 14
Ellory Sue got her very first haircut, which I thought might make me cry, but it just made me proud that she's growing into such a beautiful girl. She did great, and so did Jenn Quillo who did the cut and gave me time to talk with a friend.

May 16
Lachlan and I woke up on May 16th ready to get away for the night to celebrate our 4th wedding anniversary. Are you wondering why Ellory Sue is in the picture?

It's because when she woke up that morning, she looked like this (but worse...)


Yep. Hives. And apparently a "terrible ear-infection." We sorta got that, you-are-awful-parents-because-there-is-no-way-you-couldn't-have-known-something-was-wrong-look from the pediatrician. After she told us the plan of action for the hives and ear-infection, which including calling the doctor in 6 hours, we really got the no-seriously-you-are-the-worst-parents-ever look, when we informed her, my mom would be making the call, because we were heading out of town for the night.

No big deal, we started off the romantic weekend with a trip to the pediatrician. Ellory was all cleared from the hives within a few hours. And my very capable mother took good care of Ellory Sue while we went here, and stayed here.

I am oh so sad that I left my camera at home. Especially while at Woodford Reserve, which is maybe the most beautiful place I have ever been. If you live around here and have not gone, scrounge up $5 and make the trek...it's a really cool tour, and the drive is gorgeous. The place that they house all the barrels to age is the most romantic atmosphere...imagine the combo of this and this and a misty rain beating down on the roof while you take in the scent of bourbon and yeast.

The following day we went here.

It was so good to get away with my husband and just talk. We always like to reflect on the past year, and all the trials and blessings God has given us. It was definitely a year worth reflecting on and celebrating. The Lord is so faithful to us and we are quite thankful to be journeying through this life together.

The days following our return would prove a good start to next year's reflection time.

May 20th

Ellory Sue and I were spending the day at my sister-in-law's in home day care. I was subbing while she and my brother took our niece for some routine follow up tests, because Bella was having problems having bowel movements. However, it was all but routine when we learned that Bella had a tumor, and it was cancer.The next 2 weeks were rough! But let me first tell you that Bella is TOUGH!! This girl handles the trials of life the way I pray we all would...with faith. This story is ongoing, but PRAISE OUR GOD!!! What was assumed to be stage 4 aggressive, has at this point been deemed stage 2b non-aggressive. Bella had surgery to remove a tumor on her kidney, and will continue receiving check-ups to make sure her body is fighting the few remaining cancer cells. We covet your prayers for God's will to be done.

May 21
Ellory Sue turned 2! This blows me away. We spent the day doing all things Ellory.

Eating breakfast with Nanny, Momma and cousin Eliza at Waffle House.

Swimming in her new pool from Pappy.


Eating at Ellory's choice: Cracker Barrel with Momma and Daddy
And visiting her cousins and eating cupcakes in Bella's hospital room at Kosair.
We were thankful to learn over this busy week, that baby Xavian's chemo is fighting off the remaining cancer in his body! He's got a ways to go, but any victory in the fight is welcomed. The Lord is gracious and both the Coffee's and the Hall's are an amazing example of CHRISTians as they trudge though earthly trials with God's will ever on their hearts and in their prayers. You can read about Xavian here.


The plan was to have a blow out 2nd birthday party at my mom's house on the 23rd. But with the shock of Bella's cancer, we wanted to focus our family's attention and care on her. Bella is a lot of things to Ellory: cousin, best friend, idol-Rock-star-celeb-extraordinaire...so we knew we couldn't go ahead with the big party with out her. Instead, we celebrated with our EY cousins (we call my side the EE's and Lachlan's side the EY's) at Lachlan's mom's home. It was a sweet time to remember the blessing Ellory has been to our family. Ellory had a blast! We plan on celebrating with the EE's next weekend. And although we are bummed that we had to forgo the blow out with all our buddies from Sojourn...we know that it has turned out to be exactly as it should be. Next weekend Ellory will get to draw out her celebration to one more week and we'll get to celebrate God's mercy and healing in Bella as well!

Here are a few shots from the EY party, and all things Yo Gabba Gabba.



...And we planted a garden that we can take with us to our new house when we move (In less than a month!!!).


ahhhhh....breathe....
Now, time to get off my butt and face a busy and amazing June!

The Wheels on the Bus...The words that Ellory has been looking for to express her love for Daddy

Our sweet and silly Ellory Sue. May 1, 09

House update

That's Lachlan to the right of the house, giving the house a good look over during our inspection on Tuesday.
Nothing will freak you out about buying an 80 something year old home like an inspection. There were plenty of things to add to the weekend project list...but only a few super concerning things, which we submitted to the sellers, requesting them to take care of. We were happy to find out that they accepted all our requests, which makes the final decision to go forward with this little cutie easy.
While we were there on Tuesday, I walked out my front door to give something to our friend and new neighbor, Beth...what a great feeling to be so close to a sister. I am looking forward to coffee and muffins on on front porch with Ellory and Beth and her girls...maybe the girls should stick with milk though.
The sellers are going out this week in search of their new home. Pray they find a wonderful place to continue to make their family. We hope to know what our closing date will be in the next 2 weeks or so...we'll keep you updated.

sunday prayer.

God thank you Matt, Cassie, Dante. My families. Daddy, thank you date with Ellory, daddy. Amen.

thursday.

Tonight's prayer from Ellory Sue:
God thank you Daddy, Mommy, Xavian get better. Amen.

Man I love this girl.
She'll be 2 on May 21st, and just like any other parent, I can't believe how fast it is going. She's smart. She knows a LOT more than I think she knows. Pretty much if she's seen something once, she's stored it. Last week I took Ellory to the doctor to clear up this snot thing she's had for weeks...the last time we were at the doctor, she was 17 months old, it was the beginning of December, and we ran in for maybe 5 minutes to get the follow up booster for her flu shot. When we pulled into the parking lot last week, I parked facing away from the building:
"Oh, Mommy! I see fish and then I get a sucker!"
"Ellory Sue! How do you remember this?"
"Mommy, the fish. I see the fish, I get a sucker." (insert, "duh" look.)

I didn't even remember that they had fish at the doctor, but I did remember the sucker, because the nurse gave it to her before I could give her the mom eyes that said "JUST OFFER A STICKER." However, I know my girl, so I wasn't surprised to walk in and see a large tank of fish in the corner...

This and numerous other instances have been encouragements to turn up our Bible Reading. I regret that we weren't as consistent with this as we set out to be. But over the past 2 weeks we've totally changed our "night-night" routine, and it now includes all three of us putting Ellory in her p.j.'s reading a Bible Story from her Children's Bible (And then ALWAYS reading "The Sneaky Snake", the story of Adam and Eve's rebellion--Ellory will not let this one go!) Then we sing a song and say our prayers. Over the past couple nights, Ellory Sue wants to pray too...

Deuteronomy 6:6-8

⁶ These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. ⁷ Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. ⁸ Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.

Pray that Lachlan and I can continue to point Ellory towards Christ. That we can point out our own sins and desire to believe the sneaky snake-- and our desperate need for grace and forgiveness found in Christ alone. Pray that all those time outs, all those, "Ellory you disobeyed, and you have to pay for that. "--Make the path to the perfect payment by Christ more clear to her.

I know, she's only 23 months, but she knows a LOT more than I think she knows...

our love story...the beginning

This is a post I could write about forever. But I will take just a few moments to skim the surface. I love my husband. I am guessing that if you read this blog, you know me, and you probably know Lachlan...but perhaps there are those I have not seen in months or years who know little about my life now, so I think Lachlan is a good place to start. This is the beginning.
Lachlan and I met on my 20th birthday. I was supposed to be going out with friends to celebrate, but they insisted that we first go to a UofL campus ministry event. On this night, all the Christian groups on campus were coming together to worship, and young Sojourn (our church) was enlisted to to help with the service. I was having a good time...the music was great, and it was cool to be with a group of friends on my birthday, but I was anxious to meet up with more friends and the guy I was dating at the time at the restaurant.
Lachlan was the speaker that night. Lachlan Coffee. "Coffee!--No one has the last name Coffee...maybe we are related...long lost cousins!" This dude was funny too. I loved hearing him speak, and it was clear he loved Jesus. I was captivated--I needed to make this guy a friend, (or cousin...). My now pastor, Daniel, was sitting in front of me, and I could tell he was with this dude, Lachlan. I tapped him on the shoulder to confirm that he said his name was Lachlan Coffee. Daniel said I needed to introduce myself...duh! Coffees don't just walk around not introducing themselves to other confirmed Coffees.
After the service was over, I put my friends on hold to see if this Lachlan man was going to be as excited as I was to meet a fellow beveraged-named human. He was! Although I was disappointed at first when he told me his name was actually COFFEY--the EY's, not quite as cool or authentic as the EE's, and that we were not infact related in any way. Dang, I always wanted a cousin my age...
We had a great little chat. He was friendly and cute and I could tell WAY cooler than me. We discovered we would both be traveling to Costa Rica on mission trips over the summer, with different groups and at different times...He found out that I just lived around U of L and went to a campus ministry there, but that I really went to JCC--which I remember him telling me was weird, and that I needed to just go to U of L.
I had heard of this Sojourn place through a friend I'd have lunch with in college, and I made a note to give it a visit. It had sounded cool before, but my 20th birthday confirmed it.

to be continued...


until then, you can read my husband's weekly Wednesday installment of his blog that he writes for Sojourn. It will make you laugh and give you more insight into why this man is my best friend and so doggone easy to love.
http://travelblog.sojournchurch.com/2009/04/29/the-curious-case-of-lachlan-coffey-sojourn-dudes-that-i-met-on-the-mens-retreat/#more-1620

Ellory's prayers...

I posted these on FB, but I can't resist posting them here too--I need to make sure these stick around.

4/26

Ellory decided to pray tonight after Lachlan and I did: "God, thank you Jesus. Adam took a bite too. Amen" This made me cry.

4/27

My new fav. part of the day, Ellory's prayer: "God, thank you Xavian get better. Thank you Dante, Xavian, Matt and ummmm...Cassie. Thank you Matt. Amen"

House.

So, many people have been calling asking about the house we supposedly have bought. I say supposedly, because the offer was accepted, but of course we still have to go through inspections and all that fun stuff. We don't anticipate that there are any problems, but we are trying to be cautious...IT'S SO HARD TO CONTAIN OUR EXCITEMENT THOUGH.
Here are some of the details...
It is a cute brick bungalow on Keswick Blvd. The best part is that is is right next door to our friends, Josh and Beth Pace, who have 3 wonderful little girls, all right around Ellory Sue's age. (Ellory is especially excited that the Pace's have a "pay-gound" aka swingset.)
The house has a beautiful front porch with a nifty mail box that emptys into the house. A perfect place for a swing and rocker.
Inside, there is a living room, followed by a dining room, that opens into a small but effeciant kitchen. I can see Ellory from the kitchen all the way to the living room! off the kitchen you can go up into a finished attic space, or into a hallway that is anchored on each end with a bedroom, and has a bathroom in the middle.
There is also a basement, that has a family room, 2 rooms that have really tiny windos, so will be maybe a playroom or guestroom/office and laundry and a bath.
I should let everyone know how blessed we feel. It was last year at this time that we realized our home would be tight as we grew as a family down the road. We also saw that we had a lot of bills--Car, truck, house--no more than anyone else, but a lot considering that we desire to adopt a child from Ethiopia in the future. In a brief conversation with my amazing mom, she quickly offered up her home to us to live in so we could pay off our cars, and save up for a home that we could grow our family in. It's been rough at times, mostly because I am impatient. I've missed walking to the coffee shop, being so close to our church, Sojourn. But I always remind myself how incredibly blessed we are. There are people all around the world who have no home--complaining about a completely finished basement is silly. There are people who don't have moms who sacrifice--my mom has been nothing but AMAZING--people are always surprised that there have been no riffs between any of us. There are people who have no real friends--how selfish of me to whine that my countless friends were a 30-40 minute drive.
Around January, I started to get anxious...looking at homes on the MLS each morning. Lachlan kept telling me to wait, we needed to do what we set out to do. (pay off our car/truck)...but then another good house would come up (few andfar between) and we'd go out looking again. We saw a lot of duds, and we saw several that we were hopeful about--putting in offers on 2, and almost on another...but the never worked out. We told the Pace's we were looking at a house around the corner from them, hoping to put in an offer...(we heard that 4 other offers were coming that day, and decided to bow out gracefully on that home.) Beth said their neighbors werre thinking of moving but still were not sure.
A couple weeks past, and during that time, Lachlan and I sent off the last 2500 bucks to pay off our truck and Lachlan went on a Men's retreat at church where he felt a little "push" to start getting more serious about looking for a home and working hard to make it happen (Lachlan has worked his butt off working 40+ hours at his regular job and painting houses on the weekends) On Sunday, I ran into Beth at church, and she asked what the update was on the house search. I told her we were going out that afternoon to see some open houses. She said her neighbors had mentioned to her again that they might sell, and that she'd ask them if we could see it...they agreed to let us in that afternoon. We loved it! We brought our realtor the next day and put in an offer. Thankfully, the sellers accepted!
If everything goes as planned, we could close anywhere from 30-90 days...because the sellers had not even looked for a new house, we wanted to give them as much time as they needed to find a really great new house for themselves. I am praying that they have open doors and great opportunities.
All this to say, God is good and faithful. Even when we push or complain, or grow impatient. God is constant. We are so thankful that he prevented us from jumping the gun and buying a house that wasn't what our family really needed. We are also so thankful that we were given the opportunity by my mom to pay off our cars, and get a step closer to growing our family through adoption.
We are most thankful for Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior...whom without, none of these things would matter.
If you are a believer, would you pray for our home process, that it would go smoothly. Would you pray that we can be good neighbors not just to the Pace's but to our street--teamed withthe Pace's that they might see our love and know the love of our Lord Jesus Christ. Will you also pray for Ellory Sue as she transitions to a new home, without the constant companionship of her Nanny...(who is considering filing for joint custody!) Will you also pray that Lachlan and I will ust be faithful to use our home to serve our church, friends, family, neighbors and community?
I will try to keep you updated...this blog thing is all new to me, so I will do my best.
I love you friends.

The beginning.

I am quite scared of this whole thing really. Sitting here writing this first entry, I want to turn back. I don't have much to say. But that's exactly why I've decided to venture here. I have forgotten what I know, or should I say, I've found myself not really sharing what I know, and therefore surrendered it as forgotten. So I am challenging myself to not simply motion myself through the day, but to take time as much as I can to remember my days, to share my childhood, the childhood I get to reexperience through Ellory, my marriage to my amazing husband, and to praise my God. I want to share these things with my friends, but mostly I want to share these things in written form to myself. I am forgetful...I need to remember.