Joe and Evie Together at Last
I don’t often talk about our wonderful church on here, but I just had to share a great quote from our pastor yesterday.
“No one looks good in a swimsuit” ~Pastor Luke
As he was trying to encourage everyone to come to the family pool party this coming Sunday.
It has been a while since I have given a house update, mostly because Josias keeps me really busy. Over a month ago, I got closet envy after visiting one of Joe’s co-workers house. The closet was very well designed and didn’t have dead space. If you haven’t seen our closet, it is a perfect square.
After coming up with a brilliant idea of how to kill the space, I told Joe! He loved the idea! put an Expedit Ikea bookshelf in the middle. So now our closet uses space much better!
One of the many reasons I love my husband.
As many of you may know, I love beautiful cookbooks. I especially love William-Sonoma cookbooks. There pictures are the best and a good picture makes many foods worthy of making. One of their cookbooks that I enjoy is “eat well” and today, I want to introduce you to my favorite salad out of there so far.
Ingredients:
Put onion in a fine-mesh strainer and rinse under cold running water. Drain well. Put black beans in a colander, rinse under cold water, and drain.
Stir together onions, beans, lime juice, jalapeno, oregano, cumin and 1/2 tsp salt (or in my case about a tsp of garlic salt!) At this point, salad can be refrigerated for up to 1 day.
Just before serving, halve and pit avocados. Scoop flesh from peel and cut into 1-inch chunks. (At this point if you are using chicken, you need to cut it up into 1-inch chunks.) Gently fold avocado, shrimp or chicken, and cilantro into salad and season to taste with additional salt (or garlic salt) if desired.
It started out like a normal Sunday night, Joe and I eating popcorn, slurping smoothies and watching a TV show when Josias decided to buck the trend. Joe put him down for tummy time and returned to sitting with me, when he turned around to make sure Josias was okay, he found Josias on his back! Yes, our little 10 week old rolled over all by himself and unseen. Joe then grabbed Josias and turned him back on to his tummy to see if a repeat was possible. Josias obliged his very excited parents. Of course being our first child, we realized the need to get it on video…
Who needs TV any more, a baby provides so much entertainment.
Spending quality time together
As I get to watch the most important man in my life be a father, it reminds me of the second most important and impacting man in my life, my Dad. I love my Mom and Dad, but both in a different way. Dad complimented Mom in parenting. In an age that doesn’t see fathers as important with famous single women celebs adopting and raising kids without a father, I reflect on the essential and important role my Dad played.
When I was having a tough thirteenth year of life (we moved for the first time in my life, changed churches and I was growing up), my Dad introduced me to the wonderful game of golf. It became our special thing together. My Dad found a special opportunity for me to have an outlet for all the changes happening in my life to be able to invest in playing the life long lasting game of golf. Golf is wonderful, golf takes concentration and focus, but it also helps relax as the pace is slow for a sport. As we hit golf balls, chipped or putted, we had conversations about life and faith. I look forward to Josias learning to golf, because I know his Opa will be putting a golf club in his hand the minute he can stand up. Thus the game will be passed down to the next generation. I still love having conversations with my Dad and hearing all his wonderful thoughts on life.
I am looking forward to watching Joe play the important role of father and show the world the importance of a Dad to our son and any future children we have.
When the weather is good in May, it requires a picnic. Josais enjoyed his first picnic at a favorite park of ours, Tumbleweed. I (Evie) first took a few photos of my boys before we (Joe and I) ate. I don’t know how much Josais liked the wind and being outside, but he did eventually fall asleep to Joe reading The Silmarillion.
My first Mother’s day was wonderful! Josias was an angel at church. He also was the youngest baby at our service, which gave me a gift (a wood cross with “beautifully and wonderfully made” written on it). After church Joe took me to Joe’s Farm Grill where we enjoyed a BBQ chicken sandwich.
On my first mother’s day, I have learned that my Mom and Joe’s Mom are amazing. Our mothers sacrificed so much time and energy for us. Feeding, washing, clothing and loving us even when we couldn’t or didn’t know to give a response. It made me even more grateful for my Mom.
Thanks Mom for being so incredible. I am so grateful for all the time and energy you poured into me.