Marinara Sauce and Moving

I promise I'm still here.  I haven't been busy recently, just distracted - very distracted - and not having enough discipline to sit down and write a blog post about all the fun I've been having.  All this fun revolves around our house - we are homeowners and it is finally starting to sink in!!!  The house is now mostly empty, and I'm hoping to spend time in there this weekend.  My parents haven't seen it yet and they will be in town.  Also, last weekend Bryan and I went to our friendly Sherwin Williams store and came back with a bunch of goodies to ponder.  So between day dreaming about our house, tying together loose ends for graduation, and packing (see the pic!), I've been a little distracted.

So food - we have been eating recently.  I've been leaning heavily on those stand-by, have made it 1,000 times but it's still so good, recipes.  We love Italian, anything with a bunch of tomatoes and I'm on it.  Several years ago Bryan gave me Everyday Italian by Giada De Laurentiis, and that is when I started making my marinara sauce from scratch, and I won't go back ever until I have multiple kids and no free time :-)

Here is the recipe from the Food Network website.  I usually double it and freeze the extras, which will supply us about a month of sauce.   This marinara sauce is very versatile; we use it on pizza, spaghetti, chicken parmesan, alter for vodka sauce etc.  The only adjustment I make to the original recipe is to add more tomatoes and more different types than the recipe calls for.  Example (as seen in the picture above): when "doubling" the recipe, I will use 84 oz crushed tomatoes, 28 oz petite diced tomatoes, and 14 oz diced tomatoes.  And also for variety, sometimes I will chop my veggies course, sometimes fine, sometimes I almost puree them in a food processor if I want the sauce to be really smooth.

Here it is when we had it last week - I added browned venison and we ate it over angel hair pasta.

Today has been a day spent mostly in the kitchen.  I made everything from lasagna to cheesecake to sausage breakfast rolls - will share pictures and recipe links later this weekend.  In the meantime, here is my latest ideas of paint colors for our house (these are all Sherwin Williams colors).  When I have time, I'll add info on which room is what, but for the mean time, you can dream with me. :-)

Ecuador 2013

It was a wonderful week! Here are the highlights from the trip:

• Service: the people of Ecuador were so appreciative of our meager efforts
• Dental work: and lots of it - 408 people received fillings, 356 had extractions, and 827 had cleanings.  We saw over 1,600 kids in schools - they received a tooth brush, oral hygiene instructions, and were told the gospel!
• Growth: the theme of our talks each night was on living in our identity as children of God.  I have been convicted by how I don't live as though all the blessings of heaven are given to me.
• Relationships: it was a wonderful time to get to know other students and dentists better.  We asked lots of questions to the dentists on the trips and tried to soak up ideas and tips from their years of experience
• Kingdom building: lots of decisions for Christ among the people we served. The church we partnered with will follow up and disciple these new believers.  Praise the Lord!

Thank you to everyone who prayed for us, and also for those who supported us financially.  It was an awesome week!

At the equator!

A few snapshots of a typical day.

I actually forgot didn't have room to bring my camera.  So once I get pics from other people, I'll post some more.  These few here were taken with my iPod, so not the greatest quality. Oh well :-)

Ecuador Mission Trip

Tomorrow Bryan, Catharine, and I leave for Quito, Ecuador where we will spend our spring break on a medical mission trip.  We have all had a hectic week - I think satan likes to distract us that way and to bring us to tomorrow exhausted.  Since it is almost midnight and I have to wake up at 4:15 tomorrow, I'll be brief.

Prayer for the week:

• safety: travel, dentistry, safe food, happy tummies
• physical endurance: bending over patients who are sitting in tailgating chairs while you try to do dental work can be tough on your back
• spiritual boldness: to share Christ with all those we encounter (both Ecuadorians and fellow students on the trip)
• servant's hearts: flexibility and an others-focused attitude
• relationships: bonding amongst the groups, new friendships to be made, and existing relationships to grow deeper

I will try to post an update or two throughout the week, although the wi-fi can be unpredictable.

Thank you in advance for your prayers!  We are so excited to have this opportunity to go and can't wait to tell you all about it!