1. Last night I cooked parmesan chicken, Barefoot Contessa's roasted carrots, and bacon-ranch sauteed green beans. And I didnt ruin ANY of it!
2. School starts tomorrow and I AM NOT READY.
3. I am still not finished with all of my work from the Systematic Theology class I took in July. Oops.
4. MHC (the church) is spending this week immersed in a "charrette."  If you're anything like me and have NO IDEA what that word means, here's a little help-- [char-rette: n., a final, intensive effort to finish a project, esp. an architectural design project, before a deadline.]  Hopefully it won't be long until we've got our master building plan complete. This morning I met with the architects about the childrens wing. I can't wait!
5. Tomorrow Janie moves to Chattanooga and starts her freshman year of college. Weird.
6. Thursday is our 4 year wedding anniversary. Can you believe it's been that long?

Well, as of last night, it's official.  We are going to the Philippines on December 8 for 2 weeks. We booked the flights, bought the tickets, and shelled out $2800 in hopes that we'll get enough financial support coming in to be reimbursed for it from MTW. 

Thankfully, though, Nate was able to get a great deal on the tickets and saved us over $1000 on them! Instead of $4000, we spent less than $3000. Not bad. 

Looking at the itinerary, it looks like we've got 22+ hours travel time on the way there, and 23+ hours on the way back.  Aren't you all jealous that we'll be sitting on an airplane for that long? I know you want to go along.

You know its bad when Nate even says "You're kinda slackin on your blog." 

Sorry, folks. I dont really have an explanation other than I have indeed been slacking.

But in way of updates, I can tell you that school starts next week, I am swamped with children's ministry stuff right now, I am trying to finish my Systematic Theology class but not having much motivation, I have started taking yoga/pilates classes and I LOVE IT, and I have an awesome new family heirloom that was given to me this week that dates back to the 1880s.

And yes I am aware that none of those things are remotely related.

Oh yeah, and I can't wait to go to the Philippines in December. CANNOT WAIT.  That's all for now.

...so I can mooch off her skills.

And also because she's awesome.

But mainly so I can mooch off her skills.

^parmesan chicken.

^homemade facoccia bread

^some kind of pasta that was AWESOME.

^The chef being a jerk and taking a big bite of the Barefoot Contessa brownies a la mode... that I couldnt have because of my stupid sugar issues. She was just trying to rub it in. Jerk. But I love her.

I would invite you next time, but it would mean less food for me.  And I'm selfish like that.

1. I did take a nap on Friday.
2. And it totally rocked my face off.
3. And I hear Kevin S. has now adopted that phrase.
4. Which means that Kevin is busted for reading my blog.
5. If you want to know more about Kevin, particularly some embarassing stories, please visit his wife's blog.

I want to go back to bed.

Nothing's wrong, it's just rainy.

And that makes me sleepy.

I tried to get Nate to bail on his test, come back home, and we could take a long rainy-day afternoon nap. He didn't think it was a good idea.  Am I a bad influence? (:

It's going to be a long day if I'm going to have to stay awake through the whole thing!

This is our support card that we're sending out for our trip to the Philippines in December. (Top picture is on the front, bottom picture is on the back, obviously).  If you would like us to send you a card in the mail (or several for you to hand out), please email me and let me know. 

We would love it if you would consider supporting us on this trip, both prayerfully and financially.  If you would like to make a financial donation (tax-deductible!) to our account, please send checks to:   Mission to the World, PO Box 116284, Atlanta GA 30368-6284 (memo: Bonham Account # 10788).  Any support that we raise above what we need for this trip will be automatically credited to our long-term MTW support account.

I will be posting more information about our trip as we get closer, so stay tuned!!

Maybe. I'm not sure yet. But at least I've discovered that the curse has a pierceable veil.

Where am I going with this analogy? I have no idea.

But anwyay. I have discovered that despite my years and years of being cursed to only cook food that turns out totally wretched and disgusting, I have in the past few weeks cooked SEVERAL (not one, not two, not three, but SEVERAL) delicious meals.

Last night's triumph? HOMEMADE LASAGNA. Lasagna that wasnt out of a box. Lasagna that didn't come out of my freezer. Lasagna with WHOLE WHEAT NOODLES.

And it rocked my face off, right down to the taste buds.

And just because I want you to share in my victory over the curse of the wretched and disgusting meals, I am going to share the recipe with you.

Here ya go, in all its Allrecipes.com glory:

Linda's Lasagna

Ingredients--

1. 1 lb ground beef
2. 1 onion, chopped
3. 2 (6 oz) cans tomato paste (although I just used one)
4. 1 (14.5 oz) can crushed tomatoes
5. 2 cups water
6. 1 T. dried oregano
7. 2 t. garlic powder
8. 2 t. salt
9. 1/4 t. ground black pepper
10. 1 T. white sugar (I used splenda)
11. 12 oz cottage cheese
12. 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
13. 1 egg
14. 9 lasagna noodles (I used whole wheat)
15. 1 lb shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions

1. In a large skillet over medium heat, cook beef until brown. Drain. In another skillet over medium heat, cook onion until translucent. Combine beef and onion in a large saucepan with tomato paste, crushed tomatoes, water, oregano, garlic powder, salt, pepper, and sugar.  Cook over medium heat until mixture comes to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 1 hour.
2. While sauce is simmering, blend cottage cheese, parmesan, and egg until smooth.  Set aside.
3. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook for 8-10 minutes or until al dente. Drain.
4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
5. Spread 1 cup of sauce in the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish. Cover sauce with 3 nodles.  Cover noodles with 1/3 of the remaining sauce. Top with half of the mozzarella. Place another layer of 3 noodles, then another layer of sauce. Cover with cottage cheese mixture. Top with remaining 3 noodles, then the remaining sauce.
6. Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes. Sprinkle remaining mozzarella on top and bake 15 minutes more, until golden and bubbly.

Note: You may want to put dish on top of a baking sheet while its cooking.  Mine bubbled over the edges a little, and having it on a baking sheet kept my oven clean!

So I have these two new girlfriends. They have husbands who are Nates 2 new guyfriends. Therefore we are 3 couples who hang out alot now. The guys are in Nate's Greek class, and that's how we all met.  But that's beside the point.  These are the girls:

The top picture is Diane, the bottom one is Kiki.

These two girls have given me information that has changed my life as I know it. CHANGED IT, I tell you. They have told me about a website called Hulu that has revolutionized the way I watch tv. REVOLUTIONIZED IT, I tell you.

Let me tell you about Hulu.  It's a website that lets you watch free, high-quality streaming of tv shows and movies without downloading them.  The great part about it is that theyve got lots of shows that arent on the air anymore. And you can watch them. For free.

DO YOU KNOW WHAT THIS MEANS?

It means that my old friends and I are reunited. (reunited and it feels so good...we both are so excited cause we're reunited hey hey!)  And by "old friends" I mean Bobby Donnel, Eugene Young, Lindsey Dole, Eleanor Frutt, and Jimmy Berlutti. Wanna see a picture?

Oh, friends, I have missed you so.  But now, thanks to Hulu, I can hang out with you every night while I fold laundry, sort socks, work on curriculum, or play on facebook.  I cannot hang out with you while I study, however, because I dont actually get any studying done when you're around. But since we both know that now, we can work around it, right?

Hulu, you rock my face off.  And Diane and Kiki, yall rock my face off also, merely through association.

This past Sunday was Jane Bradley's 2nd birthday!  Lacey is planning a party sometime in the next couple of weeks after she moves into her new house, but we decided to hang out a little on Sunday to celebrate, even though we knew Jane Bradley wouldnt know the difference!  Here are a couple of pictures...

If you want to see more pictures from Jane Bradley's birthday, click here. I would post more, but unfortunately Squarespace is still being fidgety. So for now, enjoy those!