Time Flies When You're...

...BUSY. That pretty much sums up the past two weeks. Here's what we've been up to:

Jordan: MEDICAL SCHOOL                                                                                      
Yes. It deserves all caps. It's pretty much the ONLY thing he's been doing. Right now, he's locked away in our 2nd bedroom (aka his office) studying away for his midterm tomorrow. I know - he's only had 2 weeks of class and he already has a midterm!? Yes. Ridiculous. KCUMB blocks are 4 weeks long - after the 1st 2 weeks you have a midterm, after the 4th week you have the final. EEK. Jordan likened med school to being accustomed to always drinking out of a water fountain and now you're expected to drink out of a waterfall. All the time. I'd be remiss if I didn't tell you how much he LOVES it. He's still so excited. Stressed, but excited. Life is good.

Betsy                                                                                                                            
I've been up to far more than one thing (unlike the hubby), so here's my quick list:

Quartermaster Marketing
I can't foresee a time that I'll EVER be bored here. Reminds me of my days at VC...but better, lol. Basically, this year-and-a-half-old ad agency has been run by creatives until now. (I say until now, b/c I started 2 weeks ago and a very experienced account director started 1 week ago - I've already decided that I'm going to be a power team with him...likened to the days of the DD & Betsy team...but not as awesome as the two of us together, of course.) There's not much in place for processes or prioritization or organization or...well...you get the picture. There's a lot to do and I'm ready to do it. It's stressful, but it's good. The worst part is the 40-min commute in the AM b/c of rush hour traffic...in "normal" traffic, it only takes 15-20mins to get to the office.

While at work, the team has also been taken out twice by our boss as a Welcome lunch for Jeff and I. I picked Lulu's Thai Noodle Shop for my welcome lunch and enjoyed splitting Thai Lettuce wraps with chicken served with carrots, bean sprouts and red cabbage ($7.99). It came with a peanuty sauce. They were delicious, but after the mess I made with my very first ever attempt at eating a lettuce wrap (and seeing how skillfully the other 3 girls enjoyed theirs) I didn't opt to tackle it a 2nd time. At my co-workers recommendation, I chose the lunch special Drunken Noodles ($7.69) (Chicken, wide rice noodles wok-tossed with Thai basil, peanuts, bean sprouts, scallions, Chinese broccoli, lemongrass, green and red bell peppers and egg). While delicious, I think I'd try something else my next time there. 

This past week we went to Manny's Mexican Restaurant and I wasn't impressed at all. I ordered the Fish Tacos ($8): Corn tortilla stuffed with breaded cod fillet and topped with lettuce, diced tomatoes, sour cream & longhorn cheese, served with your choice of beans or rice. Not delicious. And my first one wasn't spicy (which is how I like it) and my second one was full of jalapenos (so I couldn't eat it). And the salsa that came with the chips at the beginning tasted just like...marinara. I'm not kidding. Don't go here. Nothing about it impressed me.

The Other Half
The Other Half is the name of the KCUMB spouse/partner group (and I came up with the name!) and I helped with our table at the KCUMB Activities Fair. We had cookies for the med students and we passed out flyers about our upcoming picnic. I met a couple new med student wives and saw a lot of the med students that I'd already met. Afterwards, I met Jordan in the student lounge for dinner.

Redeemer Fellowship Community Picnic
Because KC is so big, our church had 4 picnics around the KC area. Our community picnic was about 5mins from our apartment and I was debating on going because I was going to have to go alone...I'm sure glad I did! I met 2 other couples around our age and live within a few mins of us, and the girls took my phone number down to (hopefully!) get together in the future. A 2nd-year's wife also introduced herself to me; she lives super close to us and I was excited to find another med student wife so close by.

Babysitting
Last Saturday I watched 2 adorable boys (4yrs and 5months) while their mom photographed a wedding at Union Station and their dad studied for his midterm (the 2nd years had their midterm last week Monday). We played lots of catch, pirates, school bus, board games, iPad, read books...I was exhausted at the end of the day. Four-year-olds NEVER run out of energy!

Oh - before I babysat, I met up with Deanna at Burrito Brothers to meet her boys. Think Qdoba or Chipotle, but better. So delicious. I'd go definitely here again.

Pampered Chef
I had 4 online/Facebook shows this month and made over $300! All of my hosts got $25 free, 20% off anything in the catalog and 1 item (or set) at 50% off. Plus the August host special on knives AND 3 colorful fall products for FREE ($26.50 value). I'm still trying to book stuff for September, so if you want to do an easy online show, let me know!

Cooking
I've been cooking up a storm! BBQ pork shepard's pie, pork roast with potatoes and carrots, thai peanut chicken stirfry, sweet & sour shrimp stirfry, deviled eggs, creamed cucumbers...next up is buffalo chicken lasagna!

SD Friends
Thank goodness for FaceTime! I've been able to catch up with 5 different friends from home - phone conversations are great, but you really feel like you're right there with them when you can see their face!

KC Friends
Audrey works weekends and evenings, which means we don't have much of a chance to spend time together...boo. On one of the evenings she wasn't working, she came over for a bit to catch up and enjoy a good glass of wine. We let our hubbies stay focused on their studies at the school.

Jordan & Betsy Dates!                                                                                      
We may be busy, but we made time for a few dates!

Affare
White linen tableclothes. Cloth napkins. Dimmed lights. We didn't know how fancy it was going to be when we bought this Groupon a couple months ago! Our Groupon included 2 glasses of wine, 2 entrees and 1 dessert. The only thing that wasn't mentioned on the Groupon or on the restaurant's website was that this was a SMALL plate restaurant. Hm. That would have been nice to know. (and, you'll notice it IS now listed on their website.) We decided to order one other thing since it's probably going to be the only time we're at this place...aka...out of budget. But, the food was phenomenal. Not joking. We totally recommend it for a fancy date night. Be prepared to spend $80-$100 if you're going for wine, dinner, dessert. You also get a bread basket of fresh homemade pretzels and butter and a tray of olives (kalamata and green). Our server brought us seconds of both.

Believe it or not, we took some pics.

Lump Crab Salad in a roasted red pepper roulade, frisee lettuce, madras curry paint  $15
Yum. This was the "extra" entree we ordered - so, it was the only thing we had to pay for outside the Groupon.

Seafood Allerlei in liaison with lemon risotto  $15
Salmon (2-3 small bites), halibut (2-3 small bites), 1 shrimp and 1/2 scallop
This was the perfect size for me - risotto is filling, and I tend to not be able to eat my whole
entree when it's ginormous. And, this was fabulous. Out of this world fabulous. I'd pay $15 to eat this again.

Slow-Roasted Wacholderbeeren rubbed Elkloin, bing cherry sauce, Butterspätzle  $16
This wasn't my favorite, mostly because I don't like meat all that much, but Jordan really, really enjoyed this.

German Guglhupf with Raspberries and Woodruff, yogurt mousse and Grand Marnier  8Yum. So delicious. But next time I'd opt to try a different dessert...mostly because this one was so small and our waitress had told us that some of the desserts are "as big as your face". 

Blue Koi
Only one other person from our class at Tri-Valley lives in KC...which is actually pretty unusual that even ONE other person does, considering there were only 64 people in our class. Matt suggested we meet up for dinner and we were more than happy to go wherever he recommended. We met in Midtown at Blue Koi - and it was worth the wait (about 30-45mins for a table). Matt and his girlfriend Isha, and Jordan and I split 2 delicious appetizers: pics courtesy of the Blue Koi website.

Crispy Tofu with Spicy Awesome Sauce $5

Lightly sauteed dumplings with chicken, pork and shrimp. $6.50

 The "Awesome Sauce" with the tofu really IS awesome. I'd definitely order that again. The dumplings weren't my fav, but they topped everybody else's list and I definitely didn't think they were bad - I ate two!

Fire Bird Duck:  Boneless roast duck sautéed with chili pepper, scallion and bamboo strips.  $13

This was Jordan's entree and unfortunately he wasn't very happy with it. The sauce had a ... bad ... flavor. I don't know what it was, but I tried it too and didn't care for the taste.

I had Chicken with Chinese Curry Sauce ($13):  Ginger, onion, mushroom, snow peas pods and fresh basil sautéed with sesame oil till fragrant, then simmered in lightly spicy Chinese curry sauce. No pic for this on the website. It was fantastic! So, so good. I ate it for lunch again the next day. Yuuuum.

We had a really great time and before we knew it, it was after 9! Jordan had to get back to studying, so we called it a night and plan to get together again in the future.

The Other Half Picnic
It was raining last night, so the picnic turned out to be an indoor event at KCUMB. The turnout was GREAT and I met even more med student wives. Dinner was bbq from Dickey's, so Jordan got to cross another bbq place off his list. He studied in the library while I visited. I'm looking forward to more of these events!

And this was AFTER lots of people had left! 

_______________________________________________________________________________

That's the rundown of the past two weeks! I wasn't kidding about being busy! (I also cleaned the apartment from top to bottom...floors and everything [Okay, not everything...I didn't dust....] in anticipation of my parents coming to visit next weekend. If you know my mom, and many of you do, she cleans the ENTIRE HOUSE from top to bottom every week (and yes, she DOES dust), so I wanted to have an equally...erm....sort of...clean apartment for when they visited. I also went grocery shopping, did the laundry and a few other errands. And uncle Pat & aunt Kathy (& Greta!) took me out to dinner at Em Chamas Brazilian Grill - talk about spoiled!

Okay, friends and family. I'm going to try to blog more than once every two weeks...it took me two hours by the time I rounded up pics, looked up websites, etc... And I probably don't have any readers that read on through this entire ridiculously long post! I'll try to do better. It'd probably be easier for everyone!

And I didn't even blog about church - GAH! Church has really been FAB these past few weeks...but I've GOT to work on some other things yet today, so maybe church will get a post all on its own!

The White Coat Ceremony

 

Thursday the 9th was the KCUMB White Coat Ceremony where all the MSIs (med student 1 - 1st year students - 1st years) received their first white coat as they embarked on their journey to become doctors. It's a very high-class, almost sober, ceremony. The students wore suits (without suit coats, since they got their white coats) or black dresses and had the opportunity to be coated by a physician of their choosing (such as a family member, close friend, etc - the person just had to be an MD or a DO). Jordan asked my uncle Pat, who lives on base nearby, to coat him. We had a lovely evening, followed by a fantastic reception put on by KCUMB. The speakers at the ceremony were excellent, and if you have time, I'd encourage you to watch the ceremony. Jordan is in one of the 1st 5 rows (I think) to be coated, so he's right near the beginning of the coating. Many thanks to the fabulous Aunt Kathy who took all these photos for me. You all know how terrible I am with getting pictures for you all to see...without her, you'd be stuck with words again, and for this post, that'd be WAY boring.

Jordan's mom, brother and I, ready to leave for the ceremony!

Lisa and I waiting for the ceremony to begin.

Jordan being "coated" by Uncle Pat - Jordan is the last guy, next to the girls, at the end.

Jordan's first moments officially coated - he's on the screen in this pic, too.

The class of 2016 repeating the Oath of Commitment (below). Jordan is in the center of the screen.
As I embark upon the study of osteopathic medicine at Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences’ College of Osteopathic Medicine, I will enter into a relationship of mutual respect with my teachers and my colleagues to enhance the learning environment and gain the knowledge, skills and attitudes of an exemplary physician. 

I accept responsibility only for those matters for which I am competent, maintaining the trust expected of a physician. 

I will be ever cognizant of the human and medical needs of each patient acknowledging that healing also involves the spirit and that a physician must exemplify humane, holistic and compassionate care. 

I will value the knowledge and wisdom of the physicians who have preceded me and endeavor to contribute to this tradition. 

I will recognize my strengths and my weaknesses and strive to develop those qualities that will earn the respect of my patients, my colleagues, my family and myself. 

I will continue this learning throughout all the days of my life. 

Audrey and Josh, two of our new and dearest friends here in KC!

After the ceremony, we went to a reception at the Muehlebach Tower in the Marriott in downtown KC. Talk about wow. They had musicians playing - a banjo and fiddle (mabye? It was "country" music, or maybe bluegrass would be a better term) - the centerpieces were things like tumbleweeds, sprigs of cotton, wheat, corn stalks and other things that would say "rural" or "country". It was beautiful. And the food. So delicious. It was heavy hors d' oeuvres; everything was a small portion so everything could be enjoyed. The traditional veggies and dipping sauce, yellow watermelon made an appearance here, corn fritters, fried green beans (amazing), mini chicken pot pies, braised short rib (omgosh. so. good.), mashed potatoes with parsnip (and I thought I loved mashed potatoes before), potato wedges (with sour cream, cheese and bacon), mini pulled pork sandwiches, root beer floats, brownie truffles, apple pastry, pineapple upside down cake...I'm sure I'm missing something...but it was fabulous. KCUMB did an amazing job. It really made this all so real!

The Last Week of (B's) Summer

This will be a quick one because I need to be headed to bed shortly...transitioning from six weeks of frolicking isn't as fun as it sounds! (Actually, transitioning from frolicking to working doesn't sound fun at all...)

I had one CRAZY day of interviews - 8:30, 10:30 and 2 - that ended in a most welcome JOB OFFER.

I had one EXTREMELY HOT evening at the Johnson County Fair doing a Pampered Chef booth. In which the only thing I got from it was sweaty. At the end I rewarded myself with fresh-squeezed lemonade, which almost made sitting in the non-AC'd-building-with-no-breeze for 5hrs worth it. I stand by my statement that these Missourians and Kansans can handle this humidity better than us northern folk!

I had two LOVELY dates with Audrey and Josh (okay, it wasn't just me on our dates, lol, Jordan was there too). After the White Coat Ceremony we went to their humble abode for wine and they came over for Thai and hottubbing the next evening at our place. So thankful for friends!

I had three FAMILY days with Jordan's mom Lisa and his brother Blake! We enjoyed lounging at the pool (which I got a little color from, even with 50spf, being out there at 10am and only being there for an hour! Strong sun down here, folks!). They were here to join us at Jordan's White Coat Ceremony. While they were here we also enjoyed more of the now-famous (on this blog) Bear's Smokehouse BBQ and we found a pizza that could rival Tomacelli's (but not their prices, lol) - Stone Canyon Pizza. Yum. Jordan and I split the Scampi Blanca...So. Good. "Sautéed shrimp atop our own special roasted garlic and olive oil sauce with mozzarella, provolone and asiago cheeses and diced tomatoes." I think it was almost better than my FAV shrimp, crab, garlic alfredo, and roma tomatoes at Tomacelli's - GASP. (But if you're in SF, nothing beats Tomacelli's...so get yourself some!)

Jordan had four SAMPLES at a microbrewery festival! (okay, so he got to sample MANY more than four...but that's the number I was on!) We met up with another med student from South Dakota (a new one, that we hadn't met yet!) and his fiance, Liz. We had a great time getting to know them and Liz even gave me some basil, chives and mint! I really need to start growing my own herbs...

Now it's time to get ready for bed and the White Coat Ceremony deserves more than a two-second write-up. It needs a whole post - it's that darn important! (and I even have PICTURES!!! I know. You're so excited now. Keep waiting in anticipation...I might have time on THURSDAY.)

A Job For ME: God Provides!!

I told Jordan a few months ago that my IDEAL job would be at an advertising agency that was centered around God. I also told Jordan that that type of agency didn't exist. I was also praying super hard that God would provide a job before August 13. That was my deadline - after the 13th, I was going to continue pursuing getting an agency job, but I was also going to start looking at retail (or coffeeshop or restaurant etc) positions.

I should have known God was big enough to give me exactly what I wanted...what I didn't even know I needed. I'm SO thankful that my "ideal" was in His plan for me!

A week and a half ago I had an interview with Quartermaster Marketing for an Account Executive position (the type of ad agency position that I REALLY wanted). I'd read the job description on CareerBuilder.com and was SUPER impressed and interested, so I applied over the weekend and flagged it to call the company during the week because I was so interested. Before I had a chance to call, Matt (my new boss) called and asked for an interview! 

After the interview, I was SO excited about the position. Matt called a few hours after my interview and said he had one more question - they had a "faith component" at their company. They prayed before meetings/meals and faith was a really big part of his life and his boss's life (Dominic - Matt's boss and owner of Quartermaster Marketing). Matt wanted to make sure I was comfortable with that and still wanted to pursue the position. Um. YES. I was SOOOO excited. 

Yesterday I had an interview with Dominic and after talking for 20-30 mins, he basically said "I like you. You're hired." GAHHHHH!!!! 

I start on Monday. The 13th - my deadline. Not that God ALWAYS answers within our time frames...but this time He did! He is a great God!! 

It's in the perfect location - downtown KC, 20mins from our apartment, 5-10mins from Jordan's campus...maybe we can have lunch together sometimes! - the exact pay I'd prayed for and said would cover our needs, it's the position I wanted, it's at an ad agency...they're focused on God. WOW. 

This job won't be easy, but it is exactly what I was hoping and praying for. I am SO entirely blessed. God answers prayers!!

The Last Week of (J's) Summer

It's hard to believe that Jordan started medical school this week. (It's "just" orientation, and he isn't exactly thrilled about it, but I personally LOVE orientation and am thinking he's probably having a grand time. Class officially starts next week Monday.) Our last week "together" as two unemployed young people frolicking carefree in a new city was a little more low-key, but still busy in true Betsy-fashion. (And possibly even Larson-fashion...there were times when I wanted to stay home and J wanted to go out!) (This was also the week that I did Vacation Bible School on base...so it may not seem like we did a lot, but for 3 days I was driving 30-45 mins - one way - to spend time with a wonderful group of 3rd and 4th graders!)

Philly Time

Jordan's all-time favorite sandwich is philly cheesesteak. He loves those things. You can about imagine how excited he was to go here. He got the biggest thing on the menu: The Monster. ($10.99) Yes. It's as huge as it sounds. Triple rib eye steak, sautéed onions, green peppers and mushrooms served with melted Swiss American cheese and cream cheese...he asked how many calories it had, out of curiosity, and they said they don't count them, but that cheese alone is 300-400. Holy goodness. I opted for a cheeseburger ($3.79) and fries (free fries and drink on Thursday nights when you order The Monster - lucky me!). It felt like a burger night to me, and it was delicious. We'd go back here, it's only a short drive from our apartment.

Friends!

Josh and Audrey, our friends from Texas, came over for an evening swim. Audrey and I had Strawberry Beer...I wish I could remember what brand this was. It was a beer I actually liked!! Jordan would know, I'm sure. Josh and Jordan had a true man drink: scotch. Yick. Not for me! But they seemed to enjoy it. We walked up to the front pool and sat in the hot tub, even though it was still in the 90s (at 9pm at night). Felt awesome to get into the cool pool after that.

A few nights later, we went over to Josh and Audrey's for a home-cooked meal and a rousing game of Settlers of Catan! (You know it's a serious board game when there's an entire website devoted to ONE board game.) Audrey spoiled us with breaded chicken breast, cheesy mashed potatoes, leafy salad with walnuts, feta and more with a vinaigrette dressing, and zucchini. And for dessert...creme brulee. My fav. (I couldn't believe my luck: creme brulee TWICE this month - Chandra and Audrey, you are the BEST.) 

Family!

Grandpa and Grandma (on mom's side) were here for the weekend, staying with Pat and Kathy on base. G&G, uncle Pat and aunt Kathy and cousins Mary and Greta came over for lunch after watching Brave at the theater. We had sandwiches, salad and the aforementioned "yeller" watermelon. Kathy and Greta also helped us finish the 750-piece puzzle we'd been working on...thank goodness!! 

Weston, MO

Can you tell we LOVE this little town? Weston's parents were in town, so Weston & Nicole and Larry & Leah and Jordan & I went out for the evening. We started off with wine-tasting at Pirtle (and Jordan splurged on a bottle of Mead wine) and then to the cigar shop for the guys to have cigars. Around 8pm we headed over to O'Malley's for dinner - Jordan got The O'Malley (Their Signature sandwich slathered with Corned Beef, Swiss Cheese and Marinated Slaw on grilled Marble Rye Bread with Spicy Brown Mustard, offered with a mound of Pub Fries 9.99) and I got the Chicken Salad Sandwich (the House Specialty, original recipe. Served with lettuce and tomato on a flaky croissant, accompanied with fries 9.99). Jordan looooved his sandwich, but mine sounded better than it was, I did love the salty Pub fries though. The coolest part of the night was going to the Pub - there's a $5 cover charge on Saturday night because there's Irish bands playing in the two different pubs. It's housed 55 feet underground in five stone cellars that were built in the 1800's when the brewery first opened. The cellars were originally used to lager and chill the beer. It was pretty awesome. Now you all definitely want to come down and have a pint with us. Check your calendars and make your plans!

The Making of a Home

Holy toledo! I think I brought my "crazy-busy" schedule habit with me to KC...I had good intentions to get this written up on Wednesday or Thursday, but that didn't happen. Here's a bit of what we've been up to:

Cooking!
With all this free time (haha), I got back to cooking new and exciting meals. Sometimes I just get stuck in a rut when it comes to meal times and that's for a few reasons: 1. I can eat the same thing for many meals in a row and never get bored. 2. I'm a cheapo...err...very frugal at the grocery store. 3. Yeah, #2 pretty much covers it. Jordan, on the other hand, doesn't enjoy eating the same types of meals indefinitely so I felt it was my wifely duty to serve him up some new recipes. Left to right: Taco night , Lemon Pepper Chicken Divan and Spinach- & Cheese-Stuffed Manicotti. Bottom two pics: Jordan enjoying his Shredded Pork Tostada and...YELLOW watermelon!!! We bought the watermelon at City Market for $4, the guy we bought it from said, "That there's a yeller watermelon. It don't got no seeds and it's yeller on the inside." And sure enough it was!

   

 

I didn't get pictures of our Orange Chicken Lo Mein or the Fiesta Chili Mac - rest assured, they were delicious. All of the recipes (except taco night) are from Pampered Chef's More Weekday Dinners Done recipe collection. This affordable little collection of recipes ($6.50) gives you 2 weeks of meals in one easy envelope - each week has 5 recipes that average $2/serving. The recipes are simple and delicious...and there's even a grocery list card that you can take to the store with you - SO EASY. There's another collection, too (Weekday Dinners Done). These things are one of my very favorite PC products!

More Decorating!

Interviews
Some of you were maybe beginning to wonder if I was going to get a job or if I was going to just take up blogging, hanging out and cooking as my occupation. That all sounds wonderful, and if only it paid the bills I think I'd do that...it's my long-term goal. I plan to be doing that in...oh...10+ years, hehe. I've actually had quite a slew of interest lately, which has been encouraging. Tomorrow I have THREE interviews - 8:30, 10:30, and 1:30 - so if you think of me, pray that I'll have stamina and that I won't get to hot in my suit in this heat! I'm going to be downtown all day; not enough time to come home between interviews. So I'm hoping to find a nice little coffeeshop with wifi. The interviews though - the 8:30 and 1:30 are 2nd-round interviews. I'm one of two candidates that they're debating between. Both of these are account manager positions at advertising agencies and I'd be SUPER stoked to get either job. I'm praying that a job offer comes in this week b/c I've been saying that ideally I'd like to start my job on the 13th...and that's Monday!

Going to the Movies
If you know us, you know that we don't "waste" money at the movies. We rarely see movies in the theatre, so it's a pretty big deal when we do go. In the past month we've seen TWO: Batman: The Dark Knight Rises and Brave. I'm sure most of you have seen the new Batman, and if you haven't, you definitely need to see it. Brave was cute, but definitely had a storyline twist I was expecting! I have a soft soft for animated movies...so I really liked it.

Coffee
Who's a coffee drinker? Jordan MUST have his coffee every AM, but he's not a Folgers guy...which means I had to do some frugal sleuthing to come up with an affordable, delicious coffee that he enjoyed. Enter World Market coffee. Price ranges from $6-$12/bag. Not cheap enough for me. We just got 16 bags for about $3/bag. Follow these steps:Join WM Explorer Club.

1. Only purchase coffee on Wednesdays. (Normally, 1 bag of coffee = 1 point, on Wednesdays 1 bag of coffee = 2 points. After you collect 12 points, you get a free bag of coffee.)
2. Wait for a $10 off a $30 purchase coupon comes out (they have these frequently). 
3. Go to WM with your hubby or a friend...or twice, by yourself. Buy 6 bags, get double points, use $10 off coupon. Do this twice, so you come home with 12 bags of coffee; your 4 free coupons will be emailed to you.

We always get the $12 bags for our free coffee, so yesterday we went in and got $50 worth of coffee for FREE. Talk about awesome. And, when you're a WM explorer, you get $10 free for every $100 you purchase, so about twice a year I get 2 $10 free for purchasing coffee (and that's different than their $10 off $30 coupon). Go forth and buy cheap coffee!

Vacation Bible School

I was lucky enough to help my aunt Kathy with the VBS on base this past week. I was a tour guide for 10 3rd and 4th graders and lead them through the Daniel and Babylon scene. It was amazing how much work went into these 3 days of VBS. There were 60 3rd and 4th graders alone....I wouldn't be surprised if there were 500 kids at this VBS. The planning was phenomenal. Each day, I took my kids to Club Adventure (where they saw a skit about Daniel and the Lyons performed by high schoolers), Music, Video (to see a Daniel video), Recreation (outdoor games), Snack Time, and Courts. Each day we went to a different Court - Fiery Fork, Captive Corner or Slumber Section (that's not the right name for the Slumber Court...now it's escaping me) and the kids did crafts, saw a skit about a specific part of the Daniel story and got to experience things like the Daniel and others may have experienced when they were taken to Babylon - such as different foods (greek yogurt and liverwurst), being spoke to in a different language, trusting God when you're afraid (they put their hands into a box that had something in it...they didn't know what - jello, etc). 

Fall Launch 

Pampered Chef Fall Launch was in Omaha, so aunt Karen and two others from my SF team came and I was able to see them for the day. We got to see all the new products for the fall selling season and I am super pumped to get my biz going in KC. I've been trying super hard to find ONE person in KC that would like to host a show for me to help me get my biz started. If you're from KC, maybe you could help me! I'd sure appreciate it! And you'd get new, free products for your kitchen!