A homemade rainforest

Jubal has a project in school that he has been working on for the past couple of weeks. He had to pick out an animal, write about it, and make a visual for it. He will presenting it in his class this week. He has been so excited about it and we have had so much fun preparing it. He picked the sloth and we made a miniature rain forest habitat. He had to research the habitat, foods, a description of how it looks, why or why it wouldn't be a good pet, and an interesting fact. Simple and fun. Here is a picture of how the little project turned out.

If you are looking for something fun and educational to do this summer, this is a great idea.

Lentil soup with a twist

I found this incredible recipe on Cookbooks 101. It is so delicious. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did. Another good soup to add to my collection..... Serve with Naan or wheat rolls and you have a yummy and easy meal for the fam.

Coconut Red Lentil Soup

1 cup yellow split peas
1 cup red split lentils (masoor dal)
7 cups
1 medium carrot, cut into 1/2-inch dice
2 tablespoons fresh peeled and minced ginger
2 tablespoons curry powder
2 tablespoons butter or ghee
8 green onions (scallions), thinly sliced (you can also use a yellow onion)
1/3 cup golden raisins (optional)
1/3 cup tomato paste
1 14-ounce can coconut milk
2 teaspoons fine grain sea salt
one small handful cilantro, chopped

Give the split peas and lentils a good rinse - until they no longer put off murky water. Place them in an extra-large soup pot, cover with the water, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and add the carrot and 1/4 of the ginger. Cover and simmer for about 30 minutes, or until the split peas are soft. You may need to add a little water throughout to keep it from getting too thick.

In the meantime, in a small dry skillet or saucepan over low heat, toast the curry powder until it is quite fragrant. Be careful though, you don't want to burn the curry powder, just toast it. Set aside. Place the butter in a pan over medium heat, add half of the green onions, the remaining ginger, and raisins. Saute for two minutes stirring constantly, then add the tomato paste and saute for another minute or two more.

Add the toasted curry powder to the tomato paste mixture, mix well, and then add this to the simmering soup along with the coconut milk and salt. Simmer, uncovered, for 20 minutes or so. The texture should thicken up, but you can play around with the consistency if you like by adding more water, a bit at a time, if you like. Or simmer longer for a thicker consistency. The thicker this soup got, the more I liked it.

***I made a couple of adjustments to this recipe. I used all yellow split peas and I added the curry powder to the onion and butter mixture instead of toasting it first. I also added 1 veggie bouillon cube after the peas were tender. The soup turned out great.

Our new girls!

Well, after a few failed attempts, I finally purchased more chickies. They are so funny and pretty wild from being free range with the previous owner. **It was a hoot watching Stephen and I round 'em up to get them in the coop the first night we had them**. America's funniest home videos anyone? We named them Daisy #2, Chicken Little #2, and Bacon #2. Fun.
Here are some pictures!

Texas is doing great too. We put a collar on him that has a high pitched beep and it has been a success. Sweet.

12 beautiful years

I am a little late but hey, better late than never right? It's hard to believe that this past Sunday, Stephen and I celebrated our 12 year wedding anniversary. The coolest part of the whole celebration is that it truly feels like a celebration. I am SO IN LOVE with him it's incredible. It's a love that has gotten stronger through the fun and hard years that we have been together. I wouldn't trade it for anything. He is my best friend and have I mentioned that I love him? I praise God for what He has done in our relationship. It has been one incredible adventure and I am looking forward to many more chapters to it. Stephen is my hero and I am so proud to be married to him.

Here we go!!!!!

Last weekend our little family went camping and cheered Stephen on in his mountain bike race. He did great! Jubal and I managed to dodge some lightening and sheltered ourselves from the downpour while waiting at one of the rest stops. On the other hand, Stephen had the joy of riding in the glorious weather. Thank you, God for keeping him safe.

We had to cut short our camping trip because of the weather but we still had a great time. It was nice to come home to our cozy home and soft bed ;0).After we got unpacked and settled down for the evening, I ventured to open our little pile of mail. One letter stuck out to me. It had AB Tech on the envelope along with the word Admissions stamped on the front. Interesting. I was thinking maybe I forgot to turn something in with my nursing school application. I opened up the envelope and began to read it. Here's what it said. "The evaluation of all records pertaining to your application to the competitive allied health programs at Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College has been completed. Following is the final outcome of your application to the Fall 2010 program:

Associate Degree Nursing: ACCEPTED INTO PROGRAM!!!!!!!!!"

I had to read that sentence a few more times before it dawned on me that I was accepted. Praise God. I am in. I am so excited/nervous/preparing/dreaming. I am so thankful that God has opened this door for me to walk through. For those of you who prayed, thank you. God is good. I am so excited. I will start in August and that's all I know so far. I meet with my advisor in a couple of weeks.

It's crazy to think the one career that I never thought I would be doing, I will be going to school for in a few short weeks. God is so incredible.

Hopefully I won't be using needles as big as me. I don't know if I could handle that ;)