Written by Peter

 

So the time has come. The holidays are here and my lovely wife has reminded me that my contribution to her blog has been long over due. Last month we had the opportunity to go on a road trip to Nashville, TN. This trip was quite the treat as we were able to visit family, downtown Nashville, and of course Trader Joe's. On our way back home we made a brief detour to Montgomery, AL, which is the home of Maxwell AFB (the location of Commissioned Officer Training school also known as COT). Just a little over ten years ago I graduated from COT and my former pastor in PR, Dennis Kirkland, was able to attend. Fast forward ten years and now Dennis is a student at COT on the verge of graduating. Funny how things work.
There have been a several men who God has placed in my life over the years who have played a significant role in my development as a Christian man. Dennis, who is now a missionary to Guam, (and a Guam Air National Guard chaplain) is one of them. Dennis was the pastor of Grace Bible Church in Ceiba, PR when I was an impressionable teenager and he took a keen interest in both my brother and I. Dennis was a strong example of a Christian man and a wonderful mentor. Although our time in Alabama was quite brief we were able to reminisce over old times and talk about future plans. Most importantly I was able to introduce Jen to an old friend.

Dennis & Lora Kirkland visiting me at COT, July 2002

Jen and I visiting Dennis at COT, November 2012

 

Christmas can't be very far away...

Now that I'm living in the states, I'm taking advantage of all those stores that we didn't have in PR. I think the cashier at Michael's is starting to recognize me now, AND I wandered into a Hobby Lobby last month for the first time. That was a wonderful mistake. So now that the Christmas season has begun, I'm attempting all of those crafts and decorating ideas that I've collected on Pinterest. So this week I bought a package of six empty glass ornaments and started to play. These were the ornaments that happened today.

Sand from the beach my husband and I met on. <3

 

Tiny shells that needed a new home. : )

 

Some of my beach glass collection.

 

And the pinspired wedding invitation.

 

This has definitely given our tree a more personalized feeling. It will be fun to look at these ornaments over the years and "remember when..."

 

 

 

Quick trip to Texas

We took a three day trip to San Antonio to attend the funeral of an extended member of Peter's family. It was nice to be able to represent his family and remember Marianne. While there, I was also introduced to different friends and favorite places of Peter's from when he was stationed there for two years. We ate TexMex, Puertorican, and Indian food- all things that we don't get at home. We tried to visit the newly-opened Trader Joe's store, but got stuck in a traffic jam and had to revise our plans. Also drove past the Alamo, and listened to an audio book and a half. :) Good times.

For dinner tonight!

When I was planning my wedding, I often thought, "how in the world did people do this before Pinterest?!" Now as I am learning to be a wife I think the same thing. How did people do this without Pinterest?? Thankfully my friend Amy introduced me to the site last December, because my life would be very different without it. All of the dinners that have been served in this house in the last four months were pinspired. My husband doesn't even ask anymore when I serve him something new. He just smiles (or occasionally raises an eyebrow) and says "hmm...Pinterest?" Sometimes I send him "shopping" though my food boards to pick out what we will eat the following week. His enthusiasm does not quite match mine, but he is a good sport. So this was our favorite new recipe of the week- chicken & sweet potato quinoa stir fry.

 

1 c water

1/2 c quinoa, rinsed and drained
1 med sweet potato (about 8 oz), peeled and cut into 1/2" cubes
4 tsp canola oil
12 oz boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into 1/2" pieces
1 med onion, chopped
1 jalapeño chile pepper, finely chopped
1 med red bell pepper, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp ground cumin
1 c frozen peas
3 Tbsp chopped fresh cilantro

1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp black pepper

1. COMBINE water and quinoa in small saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium, and simmer until liquid has been absorbed, 12 to 15 minutes.
2. PUT sweet potato in small saucepan with enough cold water to cover by 2" while quinoa is cooking. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and cook until just tender, 3 to 4 minutes. Drain.

3. HEAT 2 teaspoons of the oil in large nonstick frying pan or cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken and cook, stirring occasionally, until starting to brown, about 4 minutes. Transfer to bowl.

4. RETURN pan to heat and add remaining 2 teaspoons oil. Stir in onion and jalapeño pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, 1 minute. Add bell pepper, garlic, and cumin. Cook until vegetables start to soften, 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in peas and reserved chicken and cook 2 minutes. Add quinoa and sweet potato. Cook, stirring frequently, until heated through, 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in cilantro, salt, and black pepper.
Originally from prevention.com

The Jennifers Johnson

Jennifer Johnson is a friend from California. We share the same name (my name hasn't officially changed yet) and met when I was teaching at the preschool her children attended. After that there was babysitting and cookie baking and badly wrapped Christmas presents. Now, she and her husband, Jody, seem to vacation in all of the places that I live. : ) They make an annual trip to Puerto Rico to celebrate her birthday, and this year they also took a trip to the Gulf Coast. It was fun to have them over to our home and to catch up over dinner. Thanks Johnsons!

Election day fun

We were invited to spend election evening with some friends. They homeschool all of their children, and were looking to broaden their audience for their election presentations and their own mock election. It was so cute, I have to share.
We arrived and got to register to vote.

 

 

 

Then we got to vote for the president and three household initiatives that were written by the kids.

 

It was fun to see the projects that they were working while we watched the results on the news.

 

 

And then we ate patriotic brownies and Watergate salad!







Happy Thanksgiving!

So it is Peter's turn to blog about his visit with Dennis Kirkland, but he is taking his time. So I will keep posting until he is ready. We will be spending the afternoon with his coworkers at one of their homes. Please know that we are thankful for YOU- our family and friends, even though distance and work schedules keep us from spending the holiday with you.
This week, we celebrated Peter's birthday with friends.

Four State Weekend

We took a slightly spontaneous trip to Tennessee this weekend to visit Peter's teenage nephew. That's the short version of the story.
Our first stop was the 9th ward, New Orleans, Louisiana. We dropped our dog off at Steve's house and ate a late dinner at a great place called Sugar Park. We spent the night at Steve's and drove to Nashville, Tennessee the next day. 9 hour drive : ) It was BEAUTIFUL!!

We stopped at an "Amish market." They had rap music playing when we walked in the door.

 

 

It almost felt wrong to be in Nashville on the night of the CMAs and not attend, but we found other things to do. Peter is pretty sure he spotted one of the guys in "Big and Rich." This was the streetview (the night after the awards).

 

 

We saw fall leaves and listened to Bill O'Reilly's audio book, "Killing Lincoln." We also raided the Nashville Trader Joe's store. (Our closest TJ is in Atlanta, 6 hours away!)

 

 

 

We travelled home by way of Alabama, and saw Birmingham and stopped in Montgomery to meet up with Dennis Kirkland, Peter's pastor during his teenage years in PR. He is going to write more about that visit in the next blog post. We got home around midnight on the "fall back" night and enjoyed an extra hour of sleep, and then Peter got up that morning and drove back to New Orleans to pick up the dog. Whew! Busy weekend!

 



 

 





Halloween

We got to visit some friends who made their own costumes! "Spaghetti & Meatballs," "Curious George and the man with the yellow hat," and "Jellyfish." How fun : )

Why the turtle crossed the road..

Actually I have no idea why this turtle was in the middle of the street. He was heading away from the direction of the water, and taking WAY to long to cross a street that I have seen smashed, dead turtles on before. So as the dogs and I come up to this turtle on our walk, I took the plastic bag out of my pocket (that emergency bag that is ususally used for cleaning up after your dog) and scooped up the turtle with it instead. We took him down to our dock and let him go on our 'beach' (read- the square foot of sand that we created next to the water when we were done with our hurricane sandbags). He enjoyed the private beach from inside his shell for a few minutes but as soon as the dogs moved on from turtle sniffing to squirrel chasing, he slowly crawled under the dock and went on his way. And THAT was our adventure for the day. : )

Not at bad setup, if you ask me..
 

A visit with the grands

Earlier this month, my grandparents drove through and had a quick visit before continuing the rest of their month-long roadtrip. They brought my cedar chest (a gift that they custom make for each daughter and granddaughter for their 18th birthday). My parents also managed to fill their backseat with my remaining California possessions. I'm thankful for the trashbag-full of sweaters and jackets that they sent. I forgot that I owned some of that stuff, and the temperatures here have definitely started to drop. We had a great time eating local foods with them and showing them around a bit. Thanks so much for the visit!

C <3 C on the bayou

My cedar chest : )

Gone fishin'

We have a couple of friends here that gave us fishing equipment for our wedding. I liked the idea that I owned a pink fishing pole, but we didn't actually attempt fishing until this weekend. And it was awesome. Peter coached me on casting for a while, and then he turned his attention to building a small fire in our chiminea (wow, mosquitoes really do hate smoke!) In a matter of five minutes, I caught three small catfish. This is what we learned in that short period of time-
1. Catfish are full of cartilage, and it is ridiculously hard to get a hook out of a catfish face.
2. Don't let go of the fishing pole while trying to set a fish free. They might try to swim away with it.
3. Always watch your bucket of bait. Or your dog. Otherwise you will be out of bait.
4. Catfish have sharp barbs in their fins, and their sting causes "Severe pain and inflammation." We found this to be accurate. In addition I learned that they can also make you bleed.
5. We are completely inexperienced and ignorant fishermen.
6. The channel in our backyard is full of fish and we can't wait to try again. Maybe with a little help next time...

Our first victim. And that "what in the world am I doing" face.

A different kind of beautiful..

Moving from Puerto Rico was hard. I loved almost everything about my life there, but eventually I learned that God was preparing me for something else. I struggled with this for a few months. The mountains, the beaches, the trees and the flowers were my favorite. The weather was my favorite. The food was my favorite. My friends, students, and coworkers were my favorite. I couldn't see how I would be happy living anywhere else, even if it was with my new husband. As I prayed about this and stressed out about it, God reminded me of another time in my life that I was having trouble trusting Him. It was 2006, in California. And what was I praying about then? "No, God! Please don't send me to Puerto Rico! That can't be what I'm supposed to do!" Oops. I guess He is wise and all-knowing... and I am not. So my dear coworkers prayed with me and supported me and are still encouraging me in this new transition. I probably don't even need to say this, but South Mississippi is NOTHING like Puerto Rico. I miss PR, and all of the people that I love there. But God is working on my heart and helping me to see that my new scene is beautiful, too. The food here is amazing, too. The sun shines here, too. So that's where I'm at right now.

Hurricane Katrina devastated the gulf coast seven years ago. I wasn't here to experience it, but Peter was. Most places we go have pictures of Katrina devastation. A restaurant has a plaque near the ceiling to show where the water level was inside their dining room. Everyone's got a Katrina story to swap. Some of the best things that have happened as a result of the hurricane are the tree sculptures that line Highway 90. Before Katrina, this street had white sand beach and ocean on the south side, and miles of antebellum mansions and giant oak trees. Now there are empty lots, places where you can see the foundations and bits of those historic homes. Many of the trees were damaged. So a few talented people turned the dead trees into sculptures. There are a few hundred of these sculptures that can been seen along the gulf coast, from Alabama to Florida. Carved with chainsaws. I got the chance to get a closeup look the other day. Beautiful. And for many, these sculptures stand as symbols of hope as life moves on.

I love this one! A pelican eating a fish.

Cannon blast from the past

A few miles down the road from us is the home of Jefferson Davis, the president of the Confederacy during the Civil War. I found it interesting that here in the south, they don't normally refer to it as the Civil War, but as the "War of Northern Aggression," or the "1861-1865 conflict." Hmm. Anyways, Davis' home (prime real estate right on the beach) is now a museum, and the host of the annual Fall Muster. Hundreds of Civil War buffs dress up to reenact, camp out, and live like they were still in that time period.  This is an event we stumbled upon by accident yesterday, and went to check it out.All the canvas tents, campfires, and cannon shooting caught our attention on the way home from the grocery store. The people are all in character, and talk about their areas of expertise as long as you'll listen. We had a lengthy converstion with a doctor/undertaker about the sudden development of embalming and the booming funeral industry and saw Jefferson Davis and his wife pose for an old fashioned photo. Even the children were in dressed up and in character. Twoboys ran up to Peter, excited to show him the root grub that they had found while playing in the dirt. Fun stuff, glad we found it!

Around the campfire.



Getting ready to fire the cannon.

Shopping.  Or as Peter says, "Union soldier hitting on a Southern belle."

Chatting on Davis' porch. Ocean view :)

Beauvoir- home of Jefferson Davis

Very ornate living room.

: )

Cruisn' the coast

When I first heard the rumbling of their engines I thought a C-130 was following us. Then seeing dozens of antique and classic cars driving down the road, I thought for a second that my husband had been granted his wish and we had been transported back to the '30s (Midnight in Paris, anyone?). Really, it turned out to be an event called "Cruisn' the Coast," and hundreds of classic cars were hanging around our area for the week. We had a good time admiring them everywhere we went. One night after dinner, we found a '32 Model A and a Chevy from the '50s parked next to my Honda. My car is pretty, but it looked a little intimidated to be sandwiched between such pristine classics.  : )

 

Embrace it

Trying to experience some of those things that people love to do in the South. Even if it doesn't appeal to me. : ) This week Peter got me to try oysters.  There are whole restaurants here devoted to the eating of  oysters in a half-shell- served either raw, or broiled and completely buried in condiments to hide them. Thankfully I was served the latter. My thoughts- it tasted ok, but not something I need to do again. When it comes to be your turn to try them, it is best to not think about oysters being bottom dwelling & feeding things while chewing on one.

Southern Hospitality

Please excuse my absence- haven't been feeling much like myself this week. Turns out my thyroid may be trying to rebel against me. Not too much going on here, but this was a topic Peter and I discussed a lot this week- we love southern hospitality. It seems to be true; most people in the south are friendly. Want to help you out. Or just have a two-sentence conversation in passing.

This week I made a quick stop at a grocery store I normally don't go to. When I was getting ready to pay, the checker asked if I had a Winn Dixie card. I did not. So the checker called out for the woman who had gone through the line before me (and now had one foot out the door) to come back. The checker asked for this woman's card again, scanned it for me, and waved her on. I've never experienced that before. And I saved $8.

We are noticing some unspoken rules that are practiced in our neighborhood. When you see someone walking by, you call out a "hello" and have a 30 second conversation as they walk past your yard. If there is a dog, you also acknowledge it. If you (or the person you see) are mowing the lawn, you both wave. You also wave to any car that drives past your house. They wave back. Motorcyclists nod their greetings. We are surprised to see that everyone seems to keep to this code. Also that people seem to spend so much time outside and in their yards. Each evening when we walk with our dogs we have several conversations with people we've never met. Everyone comments on our dogs. Even a teenage guy working on his car stopped what he was doing to have a small chat.

And in closing, the second picture in the "You know you're in the South when.." collection.

Day trip to Mobile

Beautiful day in Mobile!

Went to see the USS Alabama

Cool plane

I should have asked Peter to caption these... or Jack Atwater..

The Alabama and one of the propellers.

Smile!

Seaside

One of our new favorite restaurants. Their crab soup is on the Alabama Bucket List. Mmmmm.