New Year's Eve Treat

So marrying into a Swedish family has it's advantage: delicious food. Swedish pancakes, lingenberry sauce, meatballs and more. The list continues and I learn more and more. While in Colorado, my mother-in-law Faye and I are going to attempt to make Swedish Rosettes tomorrow for New Year's Eve. They look wonderful and I'm very excited to try them for what I think is the first time. Maybe I've tasted them at some point, being part of the Covenant Church and all. So I will let you know how it goes. Here is a photo for you to envy.

Christmas music

So I know that David Crowder is not everyone's favorite (Corrie) and that he, as far as I know, does not have a Christmas album out. But, oddly enough, for Christians, Christmas albums are a little useless. You can only sing the same 12 songs and I think every way possible has already been done. But, let's look at some of his lyrics that fit perfectly with Christmas and have always hit home with me.

"Here is our King.

Here is our love.

Here is our God whose come to bring us back to him.

He is the one.

He is Jesus."

It seems very appropriate for Christmas. Merry Christmas Family and any others who happen to read this.

Quick Thought

Why, growing up, did we never buy meat from the butcher or deli? Todd and I got pork chops and sirloin fillets for under $6 total and delicious roast beef for sandwiches. Buy more things in the deli section and from the butcher. It's great.

Spaghetti and Meatballs

Thanks Jamie Oliver for some of the best food we have ever eaten. We have now made these meatballs twice and I love them. Neither Todd or I are huge fans of Italian food, but these seem to stick with us as a good recipe. So, I will now share it with you. This is the half recipe and it makes about 12 meatballs. Also, I'm really bad about taking pictures of the food we make. So everything on here is found on the internet, but I try to pick a photo that is closest to what ours looks like.

1/2 lb. of beef

Oregano

1 Egg

12 crackers (we used Club)

Parsley

Preparations:

Mix the beef, egg, and crackers together. If the mixture seems too sloppy, add more crackers.

Sprinkle the mixture with (we use dried) oregano and parsley.

Mix it all together.

Form tiny balls (you know how big a meatball should be) and line them up on a pan.

Put the pan in the fridge for about 15 minutes, so they firm up.

Cooking:

Heat a thin layer of oil in a pan on medium-high heat.

Place the meatballs in and let them brown on one side.

When they have browned on one side, flip them over (I know, who would have thought?).

Let them brown on the other side. By now, they should be done in the middle.

If not done, turn the heat down to medium and cover to cook the rest of the way.

Also during this time, you should be making enough spaghetti for the two or three of you.

Serving:

Drain the spaghetti when it is done, but save just a small cup of the water.

Heat up your sauce with a small amount of the noodle water you saved. This thins it out a bit.

Put your noodles in a pasta bowl, then the meatballs, and then the sauce over it all.

Top with Parmesan cheese and you are done!

Not rocket surgery and delicious.

Baked Potato Soup

It was pretty yummy last night. Todd and I made this once at his house and it was great (with a different recipe) and made it once at our apartment (with yet another recipe) and it was crap. So because Todd loves me and I love potato soup, he let me make it again with this recipe. Notice the "let me" part of the last sentence. Maybe he is a bit too manipulative. Oh well, I got my soup didn't I?

MAKES 4-5 SERVINGS

8 small potatoes or 4 large baking potatoes

Bacon, 12 strips cooked and cut up or buy the precut by the salad dressing in the store

4 green onions, chopped

2/3 (11 Tablespoons) of butter. Yikes!

2/3 cup flour

6 cups of milk

1 cup cheddar cheese

salt and pepper

-Chop the green onions and cook and cut the bacon (or get your bag out). Measure out all the things you will need because you do need to continually stir this recipe. Then you don't have to bother your husband who is playing a video game to come help. Oh wait, that's ridiculous. Make him do this part so he contributes in some way.

-Cook the potatoes in the microwave and scoop out the insides into a bowl. Set aside.

-Put a large pot on medium heat and melt your butter.

-When it is melted, add all the flour and cook for a minute. It will look like a lumpy mess now.

-Gradually add the milk and cook over medium heat. You can always add more at the end, so you may not want to add all the milk now (I put in four cups now and 1/2 cup later). It all depends on much potato insides you have. Let it bubble, but not boil.

-Add potatoes, cheese, bacon, and green onion. Add salt and pepper to taste.

-Let the entire soup heat up, but not boil. Here is where you can add the remaining milk if it seems to thick.

-When it's warm, serve it up and put some more cheese, bacon, and green onions on top. You can get some french bread to go with it, but it's a thick soup and was fine by itself.

So eat up. I will let you know if it's any good reheated in our microwave we finally got! Thank you Chris (our boss) for having a $15 good microwave.

Jamie Oliver Burgers

1/2 lb beef

1 egg

dijon mustard

parsley

12 crackers

Mix it all up, let it cool. Put the burger balls in the fridge and put the skillet on high for four minutes. Turn the burner down to medium and take out your burgers. Shape them into patties and drizzle a little olive oil on them. Cook on each side for about 3 minutes or until done on the inside. Clean the pan and toast the inside of the buns. Top with whatever you would like (chedder, lettuce and onion are the best) and enjoy.

Todd made these tonight and they were some of the best burgers I have had.

Stir-Fry Chicken Topper

This was a favorite for some chicken with some tasty peppers to it.

Pan fry or bake chicken for however many people you are making it for.

Cut and cook two peppers and an onion.

Add some lemon juice and a teaspoon of powder stir-fry mix.

Mix it all together and spoon it on top of your chicken with some juices.

It's a quick way to make some plain chicken taste pretty good!

Rosemary Lemon Chicken

I have been severely lacking in blogging skills despite the fact that I am found bored at home and work quite a few times during the week. I need to get in the habit of blogging when I am.

While I am not a huge fan of Rachel Ray and at first this photo made me want to never make this dish, Todd and I pressed on and put it in our menu line up. Thankfully we did because it was so yummy and surprisingly easy to make (for a Rachel Ray recipe). I made it with garlic mashed potatoes and green beans while Todd took a nap. Look at me learning to be a submissive wife. Yeah, right. We did have to cut everything in half, because we are not going to eat 2 1/2 pounds of chicken.

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into large chunks
• 6 cloves garlic, crushed
• 3 tablespoons fresh rosemary leaves stripped from stems
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, eyeball it
• 1 lemon, zested and juiced
• 1 tablespoon grill seasoning blend (recommended: Montreal Seasoning) or, coarse salt and black pepper
• 1/2 cup dry white wine or chicken broth

Directions

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

Arrange chicken in a baking dish, 9 by 13-inch. Add garlic, rosemary, extra-virgin olive oil, lemon zest and grill seasoning or salt and pepper to the dish. Toss and coat the chicken with all ingredients, then place in oven. Roast 20 minutes. Add wine and lemon juice to the dish and combine with pan juices. Return to oven and turn oven off. Let stand 5 minutes longer then remove chicken from the oven. Place baking dish on trivet and serve, spooning pan juices over the chicken pieces.

So try making this for when you have company over or something. We would, but we only have three chairs around our table and we don't want to gang up on some poor, unsuspecting college student we invite over. Enjoy!

I will make up for the delay with...

Pizza! Who doesn't love a good garlic pizza recipe? It is delicious and leaves some room for making it your own.

Ingredients

1 packet of yeast

1 Cup of tepid water

1 Tablespoon of sugar

3 cloves of garlic, chopped finely

1/4 Cup oil

1/2 teaspoon of salt

2 3/4-3 Cups of flour

This makes one pizza with eight slices. Comparable to a medium pizza from Domino's.

-Dissolve the yeast in the water and sugar mixture for a few minutes. Mine usually takes around 5. But I like to really let it bubble up.

-Chop your garlic.

-When the yeast has made some bubbles, add your garlic, oil, and salt. Mix together.

-Add flour one cup at a time. I stir mine with a rubber spatula and keep doing so until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl with minimal stirring. Then continue stirring in flour by 1/4 cups until the dough is not sticky to the touch. This is all about watching and feeling. Every time I have made it, it takes a slightly different amount of flour, so use those eyes!

-Let the dough rise once. Punch it down. Then let it rise once more and punch it down again.

-Oil up your pan or pizza stone and stretch the dough by hand first and then on the pan/stone. Then, make a pizza however you would like. We keep it simple with Ragu pizza sauce, mozzarella cheese, and pepperoni.

-Bake at 450 for twenty minutes. Again, the time can fluctuate depending on your oven, so watch it carefully.

-Pull out of the oven, cut it up, and enjoy.

Two warnings.

This is how much garlic you are supposed to put in a double recipe. But we like a lot of garlic, so we keep the 3 cloves.

You should be able to use whole wheat flour, but I have not tried. If you do, just play around with how much you will need.

This pizza has become a favorite around the Spieker house on Saturday nights. It looks a bit labor intensive, but the hardest part is chopping the garlic. I can usually have it made in about 15 minutes. Then give the dough a half-hour to rise each time. Stretching the dough takes about five minutes and assembling the pizza is a snap. So don't be discouraged. It's not hard and doesn't require much of your time. Enjoy!

Parmesan Salmon Fish Sticks

Next was a family favorite. I saw this on Giada's show about healthy snacks and we turned it into a meal. That's a kind of meal I like. The fish is a little tricky to cut, but Todd did a great job. Serve them with a side of homemade garlic mashed potatoes and you are in business. We did not make the sauce, but it sounds good to me.

Ingredients

• 1 (18-ounce) center-cut salmon fillet, about 9 by 4 inches, skinned
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 3 egg whites
• 1 cup grated Parmesan
• 1 cup seasoned bread crumbs
• Olive oil, for drizzling

Dipping Sauce

• 1/3 cup reduced fat mayonnaise
• 1/3 cup lowfat plain yogurt
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley or chives

For the Fish Sticks:

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.

Rinse the salmon fillet and pat dry with paper towels. Cut the fish in half to make 2 fillets each about 4 by 4 1/2-inches in size. Starting on the longest edge, slice the fillets into 1/2-inch pieces. Lay the widest pieces, from the center, cut side down, and slice in half lengthways so all the pieces are equally about 1/2 by 1/2 by 4 1/2-inches in size.

Place the flour in a medium bowl and season with the salt and pepper. Place the egg whites in another bowl and beat until frothy, about 30 seconds. Combine the Parmesan and bread crumbs in a third bowl.

Coat the salmon pieces in the seasoned flour and pat to remove any excess flour. Dip the floured salmon in the egg whites and then into the Parmesan mixture, gently pressing the mixture into the fish. Place the breaded salmon pieces on a liberally oiled baking sheet. Drizzle lightly with the olive oil. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes until golden brown.

For the Dipping Sauce:

Mix the mayonnaise, yogurt, Dijon mustard, and parsley (or chives, if using) in a small dipping bowl.

Arrange the fish sticks on a serving platter and serve with the dipping sauce.

Cook's Note: The fish sticks can also be dipped in ketchup, marinara sauce, pesto, ranch dressing or vinaigrette.

Stir Fry and Egg Drop Soup

Todd and I made quite a little pattern for ourselves on Monday nights this past year at school. We would make stir fry with each other and then watched Heros. It was a good constant besides struggling in Chemistry. So, we decided to make our dish for Todd's family and add egg drop soup. Unfortunately, I only have a picture of the soup.

Stir Fry for TWO people

-Rice

-Carrots

-Celery

-Chicken

-Kikoman Stir Fry Sauce

-Red Chili Sauce

Boil two cups of water in a medium sauce pan. Stir in one cup of rice, reduce heat to low and cover. Rice will be ready in 15-20 minutes.

Defrost and cut chicken into small pieces and fry in oil in a frying pan.

Cut carrots and celery into bit size pieces and add to almost cooked chicken.

Stir in stir fry sauce and mix in cooked rice.

Stir all together, adding sauce to taste.

Put in Red Chili Sauce if you want it spicier. It does not take a lot.

This is pretty basic and super yummy. Again, it makes for easy leftovers, not that you would have any.

The Egg Drop Soup we got off of Food Network. It makes four servings.

Ingredients

• 4 cups prepared chicken stock, plus 2 tablespoons
• 1/2 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 2 green onions, chopped, including ends
• Salt and white pepper, to taste

Directions

Bring soup stock, grated ginger and soy sauce to a boil. In a small cup, make a slurry by combining the cornstarch and 2 tablespoons of chicken stock. Stir until dissolved. Slowly pour in the cornstarch mixture while stirring the stock, until thickened. Reduce heat to a simmer. Pour in the eggs slowly while stirring the soup in the same direction. The egg will spread and feather. Turn off the heat and add the green onions. Season with salt and pepper, and serve immediately

So there you go. It is a good night of yummy, semi-asian food.

New Topic

So, we all know my blogging skills are at an all time low. But I do take some pride in knowing that I blog more than my husband. Anyway, the new topic of "A Picture a Day..." is what Todd and I have been cooking for dinner this summer. Since living at the Spiekers, we have made dinner every Wednesday night. I thought I would share the recipes with you as well as the few desserts Todd has mostly made. Most are from The Food Network at www.foodnetwork.com. Thank you Alton Brown, Paula Dean, and Giada De Laurentiis for the wonders you have provided us with.

First week, we made honey mustard chicken, a Droogsma favorite. But since most (I'm pretty sure all, but I remain optimistic) of this blog's readers are part of that family, I will not bother to share that treasure with you. I will move on to our second week which was Alton Brown's stove-top macaroni and cheese with shake and bake Parmesan chicken. It was an attempt to recreate a Noodles & Company favorite. This is what we were going for.

First, the Mac and Cheese:

Ingredients

• 1/2 pound elbow macaroni
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 2 eggs
• 6 ounces evaporated milk
• 1/2 teaspoon hot sauce
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• Fresh black pepper
• 3/4 teaspoon dry mustard
• 10 ounces sharp cheddar, shredded

Directions

In a large pot of boiling, salted water cook the pasta to al dente and drain. Return to the pot and melt in the butter. Toss to coat.

Whisk together the eggs, milk, hot sauce, salt, pepper, and mustard. Stir into the pasta and add the cheese. Over low heat continue to stir for 3 minutes or until creamy.

I would recommend going with mild cheddar or cut the sharp cheddar with mozzarella or something. It was a bit tangy for our taste, but the noodles and texture were very nice.

For the chicken, follow the instructions for shake and bake and toss the baked chicken on top of the mac and cheese. Sprinkle some shredded cheese over the entire bowl, mix in and enjoy. It also makes for easy leftovers.

Now, I must tell you that these recipes are not meant to be healthy food, except the fish sticks. Ironic, right? Don't worry Mom. We won't eat like this all the time. But for a once a week meal, we are just trying some stuff out.

To let you know what is coming, here is a list of recipes to come.

Stir Fry

Egg Drop Soup

Salmon Fish Sticks

New York Cheesecake

Creamy Baked Potato Soup

Key Lime Pie

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Garlic Crust Pizza

Italian Street Food

So keep an eye open for what looks delicious!

Changing

Todd and I are married!

Day Three

This is a great one.  At Stef's birthday party, we played picture telephone.  Everyone has a piece of paper for everyone in the room.  On the top your paper pile, you write a phrase.  Pass your papers to the next person, and they draw a picture of that on a new piece.  Pass that picture to the next person, and they write a phrase of what they see from the picture.  This continues down the line until it get's back to you and you read the whole thing to the group.

This telephone message started as "Chet and John are lame."  Through misunderstandings, horrible drawings, and Chet's pervert mind, he came up with this:  "If you take off your pants for the right person and many people know you, you will get an A+."  So we kept it.

Day Two Quotes

A few days prior to this quote, Todd had introduced me to the British show "Doctor Who".  I immediately loved it and continued to obsess about it for the following week (and maybe still do).  While I was walking along Kedzie with Stefanie, I saw something on the ground in the distance.  As we approached it, I saw it was a Doctor Who book!  I took this as a sign from God I should love that show.  So I looked inside and saw no name or anything, so I kept the book for myself and read it over the next three days.  When I told Joy this story, she laughed at my very excited reaction.  Her portrayal of me finding the book was this little gem:  It's raining Who books!  If only Joy, if only.

Our Quote Board

So, to close this school year out, I will share with you one gem a day from our quote board.  Hopefully I do the context justice.

Let's start out with one from me.  This quote was said while watching a movie on television at about 1:00am.  It was a movie about a piano player.  While watching, Stef and I became curious if this story of overcoming the harsh world of show business for a piano player was true.  So, google came to our aid.  I found out that the movie was about a real man who had leukemia and died young.  Naturally, I announced it to the entire living room thus ruining the movie.  Like most quotes on a board of quotes, it was much funnier at 1:00am.

Before Class...

Before I go off to "Women, The Bible, and the Church", I thought I would let you all know how lazy I am feeling.   Senioritis is setting in pretty hard core.  There is not an ounce of desire in me to go to class or do my homework.  Not good.

Also, a picture of my group from my senior seminar class for youth ministry.  We met together every week to see how our projects were coming along and then reported back to Jim, the prof.  This is the picture we sent to him for our last report.  It's not the best picture, but they are good people.

Giggle of the week

When this video played in my class "Women, the Bible, the Church", I fell in love with it.  I hope you do too.

I'm slowly going mad

I have been searching for so long for a hairstyle for the wedding. But it turns out that to find a hairstyle for thick hair that sits low on your head is completely impossible. So here I am to recruit you. If you come across some picture of thick hair that is put into some sort of style in the back of her head, low down, I would appreciate it so much!

Dream last night...

I had a dream last night that I somehow had 25 comments in the morning on my blog post.  So step it up kids.  Make my dream come true.

College is over?

Last night, while sitting with some friends in Java Haus playing Catan, a song came on that brought me back.  It brought me all the way back to the days when I was 17.  It was Relient K singing "College Kids".  The lyrics are:

someone please save us, us college kids!
what my parents told me is what i did
they said go to school and be a college kid
but in the end i question why i did
i'm poor, i'm starving, i'm flat broke, i've got no cash to spend
sell all my books for front row tickets to dave matthews band
my girlfriend's

 at another school, i know this year will test her
i called, found out she had three other boyfriends last semester

and that's why i say

oh no! not for me, not for me
call it torture, call it university
no! arts and crafts is all i need
i'll take calligraphy and then i'll make a fake degree

80 grand later i found out that all that i had learned
is that you should show up to take your finals and your midtermsthe party scene is kinda mean, i think it's sick and twisted
the navy showed up at my dorm and claimed that i enlisted

don't get excited. she'll say "no" without a doubt you see
and i've decided college girls just won't go out with me
they make me nervous and they always catch me off my guard
like cell phone services i drop out cause college is too hard
it's time to call my father
cause it's his alma mater
good grades aren't what they seem
i think he knows the dean
it's time to call my father
cause it's his alma mater
he says he's proud of me
but college always was his dreamand i would always say it's not for me

do what will make you happy
do what you feel is right
only but one thing matters
learn how to live your life

Well, as I listened to this song while stratigically placing my city, I thought of when I used to hear these silly lyrics and think "I can't wait until I go to college.  I will be able to listen to this song and totally get it."  And here I am, five years later, thinking "I totally get this song, but in nine weeks, I will not be able to listen to it and think I am actively taking a part in it."  So my appropriate reaction was one of freaking out.  Hence, my blog post.

Holy stink, where did the time go?!  Wasn't I just 17, driving to work at a concession stand, dreaming of one day going to college?  Now, I am 22, walking to my secretarial job, thinking about wedding plans and graduating from college I was so eager to get to!  Where will I be when I'm 27?  Communting to work remembering back when all I had were class and wedding plans, not budgets and kids?  Can I just regress back to 17 again and savor it this time?  (Granted, I do still see myself as 17 most of the time.)

When did I go from this hopeful teenager to a grown up, looking for a job and going to pre-marital counseling?  It weirds me out to the nth degree, but it's not like I would change anything if I did it all over again.  

Pre-Marital Counseling Funnies

Todd and I started pre-marital counseling yesterday with our pastor here in Chicago. He is Nils Peterson at Sojourner Covenant Church. I thought I would share with you one funny thing we experienced yesterday.

Nils gave us an online quiz to do before our first meeting. He started reading us the results and we found out we were in the 95% which means that we see almost eye to eye about our relationship and decisions we make. It was very encouraging.

Then he started to tell us about the aspect of the quiz that measured how ideal you think marriage is going to be. A high score can either indicate you really like each other or that you think marriage is going to be all sunshine and candy. You should be between 40-65%. We were, again, at 95%! So we then had to talk about how we don't think marriage will be farting rainbows, but we just must really like each other. It was an interesting day.

Sorry, no picture today. Todd doesn't like posts without pictures.

One more photo

This photo of Anne made me smile today. The onesie she has one is one that I painted for her first birthday. She is rapidly (and has probably already) growing out of them, but I thought they were cute. She also has one that looks like a jersey, one with a sun on it, and one that says "flower girl" on it. Like I said, I thought they were cute.

Laughter

Just a random thought I had this past weekend to make my life happier.

Friday morning, I woke up and had to go to a youth ministry meeting.  While there with the two other people that came (of our group of six), us three girls giggled and chatted for almost two hours!  It made me miss the days of high school mornings in the locker bay.   I always started the day there by laughing with my friends and being reassured that I was important to them.  I wish I made times in my mornings to do that now because my Friday was great.  Laughter is so great to start the day off.  Better than the latte that made me feel queezy.

In light of that, the photograph below is a product of giggling.  This is Christmas Eve at the Droogsma house.  William's and my smiles are because of a joke before the picture was taken.  And of course Anne is smiling because she is happy about something.  It just proves my point that laughter is something to cherish.  It comes out in photos as genuine happiness.  And as a sappy side note, I'm glad the photos I have of Todd and myself are genuinly happy ones.

My Week

I was having a pretty average week this past week.  But as it progressed on, I had 24 hours that made it a great week.

First, I had a good conversation with my friend Justin about the Old Testament and the New Testament.  It was really refreshing to be able to have this conversation with such a poetic person after weeks of class with sophomore, B list BTS majors that need to talk through every thought in their head.  Anyway, read below:

me: what were the jobs you applied for?

2:36 PM Justin: haven't applied anywhere yet. In fact, the schools I've identified as being ideal are not hiring. My plan is to send a package with my resume, business card and a note to all such schools; but I have to make sure it gets past human resources and that requires a little extra reconnaissance

2:37 PM me: I see.

  If you got to choose what to teach, what would it be?

 Justin: Old testament

2:38 PM you can't just teach one biblical subject at the high school level however

2:39 PM what happens is you'll get things like biblical ethics, spiritual formation, christ in culture, new testament survey, ot survey etc.

  Although the Lutherans have some pretty interesting classes sometimes

2:40 PM me: I think you would do well at a survey of the ot class and a worship and leadership class.

2:41 PM Justin: thanks. perhaps.

2:42 PM me: But you don't want to teach NT at all?

2:44 PM Justin: of course I would

  It's just not nearly as interesting

 me: You don't think so?

2:46 PM Justin: NT is certainly a vital part of the redemptive story.

2:47 PM just not as enthralling

2:48 PM me: You don't think Paul's letters and the gospel message are as enthralling as the OT?

 Justin: no I do not

2:49 PM me: What is so interesting about the OT that keeps you coming back to it?

6 minutes

2:55 PM Justin: it's two trees in a garden and the wisdom of nakedness. it's God becoming a man so that Jacob can wrestle him for it. It's regretting creation and starting over again. It's Morally reprehensible commandments and divine sanctions (e.g. killing entire tribes). It's the double meaning in everything, every word. It's the reuse of themes, names, places and promises. It's God always doing a new thing with and for us when we fuck up. It's people including profanity and profane suggestions in their holy book. It's God losing his cool. It's the beautiful disaster of a story that unfolds when God meets his own image.

2:56 PM those are a few that fume at the moment.

2:57 PM also Ruth's seduction is pretty cool too

13 minutes

3:11 PM me: First-I love how you say this whoel poetic thought and then end with the Ruth comment.

3:12 PM Second-I'm not sure if that compares to the awesomeness that is Jesus commissioning chosen people to spread love to everyone they meet.

  If you will allow my naive heart to believe that.

3:15 PM Justin: that too is pretty extraordinary

3:16 PM me: cop out.

 Justin: but let's be honest

  there is nothing (conceptually) that Jesus does that is not done or begun in the Tanakh

3:18 PM me: It's true. But it all that is talked about in the Tanakh coming to life. People start to understand it all. It is the completion of all they learned as youth and the continuation of that as they live for Jesus.

3:19 PM Justin: Erin I love your passion for Jesus. We need more people like you who actually like him.

 me: We need more people like you that see the connection of the entire Bible.

3:22 PM Justin: I don't think I would describe myself as such but your encouragement is noted.

Also, I received a box this week from my church in Red Wing.  It had lots of goodies in it that were highly appreciated.  Especially the mint chocolate.  Nothing is better than those two combined.  In the box were two cards colored by kids at the church.  This was them and they continue to make me smile.

The "Merry Christmas" one still makes me laugh everytime.

So, that was my week.  I also had a youth event on Saturday that consisted of broomball and bruises.  It was worth it and they kids loved it!  It's just encouraging to see something you work on appreciated.

Oh My Goodness

I was informed by my roommate Joy this evening that we graduate in 13 weeks and 4 days.  It got my heart pumping a little fast.  And when I told my other roommate the same, it got hers going to.  Then it hit me, I am getting married in 16 weeks and 4 days.  Well, three days now that it is past midnight.  I can't belive it.  I have an acutal count of how many weeks until I become a Spieker.  I need to get a move on!

As always, a picture to leave you with.  This one was my favorite.

Status Update!

Well, I failed at taking pictures.  Mostly because my batteries ran out, so my camera didn't work.  I still haven't recharged them.  I go through stages where I don't want to take a single picture.  We'll see how that works out in my future.

I started my senior seminar class for my Youth Ministry major.  And no, it's not a slacker class/major.  I need to come up with a 20 page research paper about whatever topic I choose to then follow with a 30 minute presentation about the topic and how it affects youth ministry and what I have learned from it all.  My topic is the use of arts in youth and it's relationship to their self image and group dynamic.  But, it could change.  So if you know of a good research starting point, I would love to hear it.

Second, I love Journey and Billy Joel.  "Don't Stop Believing" and "Piano Man" are my two newest obsessions.  But don't worry, Doctor Who is still there too.

I will leave you with a picture that I have grown very fond of the past month.  It's just some of the people that I care about in the world all together in one place.  I'm getting excited about having nice photos of my family at my own wedding and nice ones of my friends and me.