Dinner at Our House

So, last night I made King Ranch Casserole for dinner along with a cornbread casserole. It took me about an hour to prepare the whole thing, and then both dishes baked in the oven for 45 minutes to an hour.

For those of you don't know what King Ranch Casserole is, it is a chicken casserole with red and green bell peppers, chopped onions, crushed tortilla chips, diced tomatoes w/ green chiles, cream of chicken and cream of mushroom soup, and obviously, diced cooked chicken. It is absolutely divine! So very tasty with just the right amount of flavors mixed together. And with the cornbread casserole as a sidekick, it is taste bud heaven!

Or so I thought.

Jacob absolutely hated it! He kept saying "No!" when we tried to get him to eat. We kept trying to persuade our little man that if he tasted it he would like it (as if you can reason with a 17-month old).

We finally got him to taste a few bites, but kept trying to get him to have more. He finally took his last bite and then he started gagging.

And then he gagged some more.

And then some more, and before we knew it he was puking up his whole dinner! So gross.

I guess he really didn't like that dinner. = ) Derek and I enjoyed our's, though, so I plan on making it again. We'll just make some chicken nuggets I guess for Jacob next time.

There is a positive note to this story. We happened to put his large bib on him before dinner that has the pouch at the bottom of it. Well, when he disposed of his dinner, the bib came in very handy - if you know where I'm getting at!

Do you have any similar stories that your kids (or you) have done?

Roof Dog Trip 2009

As many of you know, I had the opportunity to travel to Arequipa, Peru with my mother-in-law and a group from her church. We traveled from February 14th-22nd, and it was an absolutely amazing experience.

I went on my first mission trip when I graduated High School and ever since then I have had such a "tugging" to go back on more mission trips. I never really had the super strong urge until recently and I found out from Toni that I was able to go with her church. After much prayer, I decided to go.

For the week while we were there, we just spent that time loving on these beautiful kids. There are a total of 28 orphans split into two orphanages. The "casa" for the older kids (13 and older) is called Sagrada Familia, and the younger "casa" is San Jose. Both of these orphanages are overseen from an amazing couple from Christ Church Plano who moved down there to be closer to the work. CCP has built the orphanage for the kids and are actually in the process of looking to build another, sturdier, orphanage. They also run fundraisers and drives to raise money for the kids.

Many of the precious children came from horrible backgrounds, but I believe the Lord is taking these terrible pasts and transforming them in to beautiful stories. When we were down there it was so awesome to hear the dreams and goals these kids have. Many of them wouldn't open up or trust anybody in past years, but this year they seemed to be more trusting of the Roof Dogs.

I guess I owe you an explanation of where the Roof Dog name came from. In that part of Peru, the dogs sleep on the roofs in order to protect the home. Their sole purpose is to watch over their house and family and protect them fiercely. Well, on the very first Roof Dog trip 5 years ago, a few of the people in the group climbed up to the roof of the hotel we stay at every year. When they were up there, they had the revelaton that they were Roof Dogs in a way, sent there to protect the kids of the Casas Hogares and show them Christ's love.

Anyways, it was such a great week. To make this post a little less long, I will just give a brief synopsis of what we did. We reiterated over and over how much God loves them and treasures them. We did a ton of crafts, making picture frames, beaded necklaces, shields, etc. One "Roof Dog" is a hair stylist, and she used her gifts to cut every single one of the children's hair while we were there. What a blessing! The kids loved it! We also took them horse back riding, took them to the park, and even got to take them to see a movie! (Never thought we'd get the chance to do that!)

We also brought clothes, shoes, and backpacks for the kids. That was a lot of fun. It was awesome because we had to guess on the sizes. We were off only on 1 kiddo - all the others fit great! How's that for a God-thing?

Last but not least, another Roof Dog and I had the privilege to share our testimonies with the older kids. I really felt I needed to share mine, but at the same time it felt so insignificant to her's. It's awesome how God works, though, doesn't it? I know that He used both of our words to connect to the kids, on different levels, but on very crucial areas.

I can't wait to go back next year, God willing! Daniella and me - she captured my heart right from the start!

Julio Cesar with the new shoes he picked out.

Me and the Roof Dogs teaching the kids "Pharaoh, Pharaoh" - this was part of the VBS we did.

Daniel, Angela, and Areleis - beautiful, beautiful girls

Oh my goodness, sweet Juan Diego! Love him so much!

I know, I know. It's been over 4 months since I last wrote on our blog. What can I say other than I have been swept away in a whirlwind of activity since Jacob turned 1! The last time I blogged, I showed pictures from his first birthday. Now he is a full-of-energy, steals-my-heart, goofball of a 16-month old! I am incredibly in love with our little son. He makes his daddy and I laugh so hard at times.

His latest kick now is shouting out "COW" as soon as we get on 380 in eager anticipation of seeing cows on the sides of the road. I'm sure if he wasn't bucked in to his carseat his face would probably be plastered up against the window looking for those huge black and/or white animals he loves so dearly.

On another note, I have a confession. Some of you know I took child development classes in college and I swore up and down that I would not let my child watch TV until he was 3. Well.......first it started with only 15 minutes of Sesame Street here and there. Now, I definitely let him watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. I can't help myself. It keeps him distracted so I can prepare dinner or clean the dishes. I now say fervently I will never judge another mom ever again. It's funny how our pre-conceived notions before children turn out after we do have children. I don't think it makes any of us "bad" parents - we just learn through experience what works and what doesn't. And getting to see the look of glee on Jacob's face as he's doing the "Hot Dog Dance" is worth more than words can say! He bops his little heiny up and down and says "hot-da" "hot-da" over and over and over again - it is the cutest thing I've ever seen!

Okay, I have to run to wake him up now. I will post more later - there's tons to catch you up on!!