Making Friends

We have been BUSY with our new friends. Here's a (quick?) rundown:

Weston, MO
We headed out to Weston again, this time with friends! Larry & Leah and Weston & Nicole (hereafter: L&L and W&N) joined us. The guys bonded over cigars and over-sized beer flights, the girls bonded over...definitely not cigars and beer flights, haha. We had a great time getting to know these two couples better and are looking forward to more fun times with them (and you'll see as this list progresses, that we already have!).

Wine Walk on Delaware & Minsky's Pizza
This was a charity event for the National Parkinson Foundation, and a lot of other med students planned to go to it. For $15 you walked in a one- to two-block area and sampled different wines from Pirtle Winery (the one in Weston, MO, that'd we'd sampled a few weeks ago). We met up with L&L and W&N and met another couple that evening that we've become friends with - Josh and Audrey. The wines were delicious and were an excellent reprieve from the ridiculous heat and humidity. I had a sundress on and could feel the sweat rolling down my back...I was just STANDING there. It is ridiculously hot down here. Audrey and I initially bonded over our staunch belief in Dave Ramsey and the conversation went on from there. We are certainly glad we met!

After the wine walk, we all went to Minsky's Pizza, which Jordan and I decided was not nearly as good as Tomacelli's in SF (SF people, if you haven't gone there yet, get to it. Seriously. It's the best.). I don't think we were impressed enough to return. We're still scoping out excellent pizza joints here in KC...

Bistro 303
Yum. Jordan enjoyed a special they had...which I'm now blanking on. Crepes with chicken, feta...and more. It was delicious. I had the Lobster Cobb Salad (Mixed greens, buttermilk chive dressing, hard boiled egg, blue cheese, bacon, tomato, avocado). Fantastic. Both the salad and the special were between $13-$15 (again with the can't-remember thing), but they also had more affordable options on the menu. We went after church with a couple (the wife is going to be a KCUMB student, the husband is in advertising - same as me, haha) and another KCUMB student. They each tried the panini ($8) and said it was also excellent. It was a nice little walk from church, and I wouldn't be surprised if we went back.


Fishing & China
No, they definitely don't go together. While our hubbies fished, Audrey and I had a coffee date at her home. She and Josh were just married in March and I was her first "excuse" to use their new china! She made a fabulous lemon-blueberry coffee cake for breakfast, so we enjoyed that with our coffee. We had a great morning together, discovered we have lots and lots in common, and decided that our hubbies just "had" to be friends because we'd already decided to be. And, I experienced Trader Joe's for the first time, too. Audrey also told me about an excellent consignment shop that a lot of the wealthy folk bring their "old" clothes to, I'm sure we'll visit that sometime as well. (Oh, and the guys had a great time fishing, despite not catching anything.)

A Home-cooked Meal
Since we'd gone over to Chad and Chandra's the week before, we had them over to ours for an evening. I had a hard time coming up with what to make, since my go-to recipes are usually grilling (which was out b/c of no grill) or a Pampered Chef recipe (which was out because Chandra also sells PC). I finally settled on Texas Skillet (and this is my reminder that I need to send the recipe to Chandra...Chandra, if I haven't, message me on fb, lol). Turned out to be a hit - just a good, ol' home-cooked meal. Chandra made dessert - an amazing creme brulee. So. Good. We mostly just talked the night away, the guys on the porch, the girls inside on the couch. We're very thankful for their friendship, and I'm excited to get over and see those cute kiddos of theirs again!

Card Games
We hadn't gotten enough of new friends yet, so we had Josh and Audrey over for drinks (pomegranate margaritas for the girls, beers for the guys) and card games. Josh and Jordan discovered a mutual love for Settlers of Catan and Audrey and I discovered a mutual love for being non-competitive and trying to make the longest road, hehe. We didn't play the game yet (it's long and we decided not to be up all night, ha), but there are plans for a Settlers night soon.  We played 121, which Jordan had to explain to me for the billionth time (because I can never remember how to play any card games) and then I believe he (or Josh?) proceeded to win. It was an excellent evening.


Bears Smokehouse BBQ (again)
Yep, Bears again. This time with L&L and W&N - they live a few townhouses down from each other, so it's easy for them to ride together. The ribs were fantastic yet again and we stayed until they turned off the "open" sign and shut the place up. Then we stood around outside and talked some more. Leah recently started her nursing job and Nicole will start school (not at the med school) in a few weeks too, so we're trying to get as much couple time in as possible before everybody is busy with work/school.

Research Experience
For two days Jordan helped out a second-year med student with some of his research. It consisted of doing health screenings at a homeless shelter near the school. He got to do some cool things (something about pricking their fingers for blood and putting it in a tube to be tested) and some other stuff. The important part is that he had a really good time, got to meet some other students and also got to meet some of the professors. He is so stinkin' excited to start school. I've heard "I wish school started tomorrow!" almost every day for a week now. That's a good thing.

Ocean's of Fun
On a "cool" day - aka, not in the 100s, only in the 90s - Larry (Leah was working) W&N and Jordan and I walked to Ocean's of Fun from their townhouses (it was about a mile away...a very hot, sweaty mile). Once we got there...totally worth it. Slides. Water. Almost drowning in the wave pool (not really). Need I say more? It was awesome. And then we went on a crazy adventure for cheese curds that finally ended at...Culver's. Apparently they're not a common thing here in KC.

Hickok's Bar and Grill
Thank you, Groupon, for your fabulous deal that got us and Josh and Audrey an excellent meal out for $36/couple (including tip). Jordan and Josh enjoyed the most expensive item on the menu - the $21 steak - Audrey had a burger, I had steak fajitas. We all had drinks, plus we split two appetizers (bacon-wrapped shrimp - how can you go wrong? - and calamari). The bill was $120 (after tip). We thought we made out pretty good with that Groupon deal.

Mini Golf
Annnnnnd finally, today we went mini-golfing with Chris, the other KCUMB student that goes to Redeemer Fellowship. We had a buy-one-get-one-free, so the three of us cost $16...love a deal! Jordan and Chris are equally competitive and TIED after 18 holes...which meant they had to do one more hole as a tie-breaker. To Jordan's disappointment, Chris won. I picked a tough hole.

We're so thankful for our new friends! We feel so blessed that God has already given us Jesus-loving friends to go through med school with. We're very happy! (Don't worry, SF friends...nobody can replace you guys!)

Finding Fellowship

Redeemer Fellowship, that is.

That's right. We've found a church that we're pretty (okay, REALLY) stoked about - especially considering we found it this early on. We were even more excited to find out that at least one other student and possible two other couples from the school go there as well. It's a younger church - both in the age of the congregation and the age of the church (it started in Midtown about four years ago).

What really drew us in was the preaching. Challenging. Deep. Focused. The first week (the 22nd), the regular pastor was gone and we were still impressed. Using Psalm 96, we were challenged to think about who (or what) we really worshiped. We worship something at every moment of every day, and you can be pretty sure that it isn't always God. The second week (yesterday) we heard the head pastor, and he is a gifted, passionate speaker. The church has been working its way through 1 Corinthians, so he picked it up at  6:9-11. He really focused in on "Do not be deceived." and discussed how we don't like things to be black and white - we like it a little gray, with a little wiggle room. In Christianity, you either love God or you don't. You either worship Him or you don't. There is no in between. He spoke about how so many people who consider themselves Christians haven't really experienced God. They believe that because they grew up in the church and know all the answers, they know God - but that's not how it works. It was a thought-provoking message and he pounded home that the only way we're saved is through Jesus (Eph. 1:11) - not through going to church our whole lives, or doing good things, or knowing all the answers.

Music is chosen intentionally, and I discovered I really enjoy songs written by Nathan Partain - here's one from yesterday:

I Have Found a Hidden Fountain

I have found a hidden fountain, that is running o’er with peace,

And it satisfies my thirsting, and it brings me to my knees.

Now at last, I’ve known refreshing; now I’ve drunk my fill of Truth.

He is sweet and good and loving, and He makes me all brand new.

I have found a flooding river, it has cut a path so deep.

It has washed out all my boundaries, and uprooted all my trees.

No, I cannot fight its current, it never fails and never yields

He keeps pushing, bending, breaking until all my soul is healed.

I have found a fearsome mountain, will not move and cannot fall,

In its strength I am so fragile, in its shadow I’m so small.

I have laid in cracks and caverns, touched his hands and felt his side.

All that power, rent to save me, Oh, I give him all my life.

I'm very excited to get involved with this church. Just to give you an idea of all the opportunities they offer, here's a taste: singleness seminar, marriage conference, baptism class, community meals, Redeemer 101 (to learn more about the church), Redeemer 201 (small groups), men's and women's "labs" (round table discussions), gospel communities (larger small groups) and there's even more...How to Read the Bible class, Evangelism class, Theology 1, New Believers class, Discerning Spiritual Gifts class...still more: ministry teams, tutoring at a nearby elementary school and volunteering at a nearby charter school, missions trip to Haiti. There's truly something for everyone at this church. I'm so excited we've decided to be a part of it. We're so thankful that God led us to it. 

Settling In

This week was a little more laid back than the first two weeks...guess we can't go on exploring like crazy forever!

We finished our puzzle and started another one. We've watched a few movies, including The Pianist, about a Polish pianist during WWII living in the Warsaw ghetto. It was a wonderful and heartbreaking story (as all movies about WWII are). I've always been particularly interested in that part of history. When I was younger I read Anne Frank's Diary, Corrie TenBoom's The Hiding Place and so many more that I can't even remember them all. My parents took us kids to the Holocaust museum in Washington, DC when I was in middle school and during a trip in college, I visited Auschwitz and saw firsthand where so many suffered and lost their lives. Someday, I'd like to see the Anne Frank museum and Corrie TenBoom house. 

We ventured out - briefly - to see Zona Rosa, a large, outdoor shopping complex a few minutes from our apartment. It was much too hot to explore very long, so we split an iced chia and meandered back to our car. On the way, we stopped at Heavenly Olive Oils & Vinegars and were pleasantly surprised at what a cool little shop it was. You can sample the olive oils and can even mix them together. We tried a delicious cinnamon pear vinegar mixed with blood orange olive oil. So. Good. The shop owner was there - a woman in her early 30s or later 20s - and we had a great visit with her. We're hoping to return and buy some special olive oils and vinegars (after I get a job and we don't have to be quite as cautious with the budget). 

Tuesday evening we had dinner with some new friends (the couple from SD, whose wife sells PC and the husband is a med student with Jordan) at their home. They have nine children (ages 13 months to almost 15yrs) and it was so fun to be around them - reminded me of family gatherings and made me miss home a bit since we're probably missing out on some of that! They fed us a fabulous dinner of steak, onion and tomato kabobs, a warm potato salad (so, so good), and cut up fresh fruit. We seem to have a lot in common (including the same birthday months, weird) and had a really great time getting to know them better. 

This is the entrance to the museum - a glass "bridge"
over a field of 9,000 poppies. Each poppy represents
1,000 WWI deaths - 9 million deaths total.

An afternoon at the National World War I museum wasn't nearly long enough. If you read everything available, I'm certain you could spend at least 2 full days there. We went with another med student and his fiance (Weston and Nicole) and enjoyed getting to know them a little better. There was a lot I didn't know about WWI, and I feel like I was just able to scratch the surface when we visited the museum. There were 9 million deaths in this war. I'm sure I learned something about this war in high school during American History (and before?) but I honestly don't remember that much about it. Some of the things that they talked about as reasons that the war started sounded eerily similar to things that are happening today in our world. Is history destined to repeat itself because we've forgotten the past?

(awkward transition here)

For dinner, Weston, Nicole, Jordan and I tried out another bbq place - Smokin' Guns. Jordan and I opted to split the Combo Platter ($14.95) which comes with 3 baby back ribs (teensy ribs), 2 meats of our choice (we got burnt ends, which counts as both meat options....they were TOTALLY worth it though. Delicious.), and 1 side (we got sweet potato fries). Everything was delicious, but it still didn't beat Bear's BBQ that we enjoyed last week - more meat, better sauce... If you watch the food network, you might recognize Smokin' Guns BBQ from Diners, Dives and Drive-thrus, they were featured last year as some of the best bbq in KC.

I went out again, the next day, for lunch at Andre's with a Pampered Chef upline. First, about the restaurant. This is a little french bistro with a bakery in the front - a sweets bakery. There were so, so many delicious things ... I know I'll be returning here with Jordan. Lunch is one price - $15.40 with tax - and each day has 2 options plus Quiche Lorraine & Cheese Pie, which are served daily. We both ordered Croute Zurichoise, which is toasted French bread topped with tomato, melted cheese & mushroom sauce. So. Good. It also came with a little lettuce salad and pickled beets on the side. (and I do certainly love beets) Dessert comes with your meal and they bring a cute little tray out with 6 or 8 options - I got an almond paste wrapped something delicious. 

Now, a brief blurb about my Pampered Chef meeting. It was SO encouraging to meet with Kelli and I'm REALLY excited about getting my PC biz started in KC. Kelli had a contact for a fair booth in two weeks, so I'm planning to do that, and she also got me connected with a group to do monthly meetings with. If anybody has any connections in KC that would be willing to do one show with me to help me start my biz, I would be SO grateful. I'm carry around my catalog tote and try to make sure that I start up conversations with people in random places (the bank, the grocery store, etc) and see if I can get biz that way, but I'm not very good at it (yet!). Would love to have a little income coming in from PC (before and after I get a full-time job!). I've been applying and applying to jobs and haven't gotten anything yet, but I KNOW God must have one here for me (somewhere!) because He brought us here. All in His good timing! 

I did a woefully poor job of taking pictures this week. I'll try to be better the next time around! (Although, I've already failed for Friday, Saturday and Sunday pictures...)

If There's Treasure Here, We'll Find it!

We've been exploring, exploring and exploring. Hence no blogging. Here's the highlights (the bold headings will bring you to the websites of those places...they didn't underline like before):

A Pampered Chef Friend!
I ventured out on the many KC interstates by myself for the first time to visit a new friend and talk PC at her house. It was great to visit with another consultant and I'm really looking forward to getting to know Chandra better. So thankful that we've found a "couple" friend this early - that was one thing I told Jordan when we got down here: "Try to make friends with people who have a wife so I can have friends, too!"

Nelson-Atkins Museum
This is a free museum in KC and it really is wonderful. We were there for only a few hours, but knew we could come back and explore again, so we didn't feel we had to see absolutely everything this time. The coolest thing we saw was this backpack:

Leather, right? Nope - it's clay! Amazing, eh?

Here's us outside the museum...it was so bright, I couldn't even keep my eyes open! For real!

Bear's BBQ

Amazing little hole-in-the-wall bbq joint we found about 5-10 mins from our apartment. It's owned by a tall, big, biker-looking older dude (with a long grey beard and a bald head...whose nickname is, of course, Bear) and they just opened 15 months ago. The food was delicious, and NOW if you come to KC, we're definitely taking you here for bbq instead of Oklahoma Joe's (unless you want to drive 30mins and then wait in line for an hour). We ordered the Little Bears Toothpicks ($14.99), which was a 1/2 slab of ribs and two sides. It was advertised as enough for two people, and they weren't kidding. There was no fat on these bones. And there was TONS of meat. (Okay, not literally, but you get the picture. So. Much. Meat.) They use a dry rub and have sauce at the table for you to add to your liking - Jordan prefers lots, I prefer little...he prefers hot hot hot, I prefer mild...so this was perfect for us. We ordered steak fries and Bears smoked beans for our sides. I'm not much for baked beans, but Jordan thought they were delicious. Instead of being made with pork, they use beef brisket with their beans. I'm a big fan of fries and these didn't disappoint - they were the large style...almost wedge-like (but not potato wedges) and came with a big bottle of Bear's own jalapeno ranch sauce. I was pleasantly surprised to find it wasn't spicy and was great with the fries. Overall, it was fab. We'll be returning here for sure.

Puzzle!
We started working on a puzzle...and we opted not to use the picture. It came in a big box with 10 or so other puzzles, so we're not even sure which one we're working on. Here's our progress:

City Market
I'd been told how wonderful the Saturday and Sunday Farmer's Market at City Market was, but you have to see it to believe it. They start at 6am on Saturday morning, and we heard that the crowd gets amazingly big, so we left our apartment at 6:30am and at 6:45 there was already a big crowd there! Unlike SF farmer's markets, where the prices are way higher than the grocery store, this was all SUPER cheap. Here's what we walked away with for $15:

• huge bag of carrots - $1
• 3 mangos, the size of my hand - $1
• 2 lemons
• 3 organges
• bunch of cilantro - $0.50
• bunch of mint - $1
• box of strawberries
• 4 smallish onions
• head of broccoli
• head of cabbage
• 4 plums
• 1 large tomato
• 1 1/2 cup scoop of chili powder

Glore Psychiatric Museum
Their website summarizes this museum as "The Glore Psychiatric Museum chronicles the 130-year history of what was once known as the “State Lunatic Asylum No. 2.”" It was interesting and creepy - they had life-size old mannequins in different scenes. There were boxes that they kept people locked up in, a boxed in "hamster wheel", "prison" cells and other remedies that they used to try to bring people back to sanity. It was really sad, thinking about how scared everyone was of people with mental illness and disabilities and the different things they tried to do. Must have been very frightening for both parties....it makes me super thankful for places like SD Achieve and the vast steps we've made in understand those illnesses/disabilities since that time.

KC Command Game
Free tickets? Yes, please. We're not much for sports, but give us something free and we're there. It was a one-point game (we lost, ugh), so it was fun to watch...although we saw a lot of this during the game:

These teenage boys were VERY passionate about arena football.

Our apartment is the "home" of the KC Command team and coaches (literally, they live here) and last week we met one of the Command players. Get this: his last team was...the SF Storm. Small world - even here in KC.

Power & Light District: Nightlife with KCUMB Students
Saturday night we met up with a bunch of other med students again for drinks - it is WILD in downtown KC at night. I'd never seen anything like this before. Between a cluster of bars there's an outdoor courtyard that connects them all, the music is blaring inside and outside, there's a HUGE flatscreen TV (playing sports at the time), outside there's stairs that take you up to the next level that has more bars. It was interesting to see, but the spendy drinks, loud music (couldn't even talk to the person across the table without leaning towards each other and yelling), and...interesting...outfit choices told us this wasn't really our scene. (at least not Jordan's and mine, a bunch of the students went out again on Sunday night.)

Fellowship of Grace
Another wonderful, little church. There were about 30-35 people at this church, and they were so friendly. Lots of people made a point to welcome us and thank us for coming and invite us back again - it was nice to be noticed and welcomed. The music was very similar to E. Free and I knew all the songs, so that was great little reminder of home. We enjoyed the sermon, but it wasn't as deep/thought-provoking/challenging as we'd like.

A Family Afternoon
We spent Sunday lunch and afternoon on base with my aunt, uncle and cousin. My uncle Pat made us a fabulous chicken curry for lunch and the followed it up with a berry cobbler. Fan-tastic. We were so spoiled. Jordan, cousin Greta and Pat played Empire Builder (twice...Jordan lost by ONE POINT the second game) and aunt Kathy and I looked at her scrapbooks (she makes digital scrapbooks and has the printed up and has 9 done so far of different trips from the past few years...I think I'm feeling inspired!), sat outside and talked, and watered plants. It was a wonderful, restful afternoon.

(Part of) Our New Home!

I figured it was about time for me to post something about where we're living!

Turns out, God had our best interests in mind (go figure!) when He had us moved from the 3rd-floor apt to this 2nd-floor one. We're closer to the pool, our neighbors are SUPER quiet (at the other place there was a REALLY yippy dog, and we were only there for about 30mins!) and the rent and utilities are cheaper. Thanks, God :) Also, as an apology for the mix-up, the apartment staff gave us 5 accent walls instead of 3! That was definitely a treat, and I couldn't be happier with how the painting turned out! (The painter, who was an older man that looked like Santa, came on Tuesday morning and told me to "remember to set out the cookies and milk in December." hehe)

Here's a little tour of the part of the apartment that's decorated - thanks to aunt Kathy for coming over on Wednesday and helping me put up pictures! At the last apartment...I didn't put anything up for almost six months, so this is a vast improvement since tomorrow marks 2 weeks in KC.

Other than our apartment being way more fabulous than I thought we'd have this early on, the apartment complex itself is really, really nice. There are 2 resort-style pools (that's what they call them, and they really are - tables with umbrellas, beach loungers, a top-of-the-line propane grill for our use, fabulous potted plants...it's really fancy), we've already been to one resident breakfast (happens once or twice a month on a Saturday), and there's also 3 free fitness classes a week (H2O bootcamp, Aqua Zumba and Yoga - I've been to one so far and hope to make it to them every week), a free cooking class and a spa night each month, and bunco in the clubhouse every Friday night!

There's a fitness room, too, which is actually really nice for an apartment - the machines are new and I've been heading there in the AM to work out to the Food Network. I feel really spoiled living here, and I hope I keep on being thankful for all the things we have here that we don't deserve. So far, it seems like this will be a great fit for the next four years during med school. I'm excited to get the rest of our pictures/decorations up and to show you the rest of the apartment!

1 Hobby, 2 Hobby, 3 Hobby, 4...

Monday was a great day for hubby: he went fishing with a few of his (new) med school friends. They left around 7am and returned home around lunchtime. Jordan didn't have any luck, but a friend of his caught five large-mouth bass, which made the trip worth it for everyone. Jordan and another friend went to the Boulevard Brewery tour (again) in the afternoon and then the same group went fishing again that evening. It was a man day, to be sure. One of the guys he fished with is also the first in his family to be going beyond a college education and they had a few other similarities that they bonded over. Jordan really enjoyed himself, and I'm thankful for the friends that God is already bringing into our lives.


Monday for me meant applying for jobs (about 10 - and now the waiting game begins) and buying a suit. Alas, my beloved (and spendy) The Limited suit from 2007 didn't fit anymore...too many $1 bags of iced animal crackers for this girl (that's this week's poison, folks). I've stepped into new shoes...cheaper ones...and bought a suit from JC Penney. And I'm actually super happy about it - $22 for the pants and $35 for the coat (plus 20% off of those prices) is a far cry from The Limited's prices of ... well, we won't go there. Older and wiser, as they say. When I (finally?) get my 1st interview (1st interview now that I'm actually a KC "resident"....and 5th interview when it comes to KC job searching...) I'll post a pic of me in my new duds. Many thanks to my fab momma for the past use of her suit for those other interviews. Now, I'm glad I don't have that wonderful gray wool suit...it's hotter than the blazes down here, and I'd have certainly perished in it between the heat and my nerves if I wore that to an interview now.


My other "find" at JCP's was a cute little red/rust/rose-colored dress (I know that color makes no sense...this is like me calling the new accent wall in our dinner area purple and Jordan calling it blue...maybe the man's colorblind, I have no idea, lol) for $15. Like I said, it's hotter than the blazes down here and my wardrobe was not prepared for that. (Up in SD I could wear jeans all summer if I felt like it; if I did that here...yeah, the perish thing again.) So I was pretty excited about that. I wore it today, but since we didn't go anywhere, I plan to wear it again tomorrow. Nobody saw me in it, so it's fine. (Well, Jord did, but he doesn't count.) Now all of you just keep it a secret and no one will be the wiser. 


Tuesday we ventured to downtown KC for FanFest. It's a baseball thing, which neither of us are too interested in, but someone had given Jordan free tickets and we figured we might as well use them. First, we found our way to Kobe's sushi buffet (yes, sushi-eating is a hobby of ours), which was surprisingly good. I am not a fan of sushi buffet...I prefer my raw fish to be made for me and only me. Not for it to be laid out for hours for other people to breath on. Luckily, we were the first people at the 11am - 1pm buffet, so I could eat it. I wouldn't mind if I never ate a sushi buffet again though. Jordan, on the other hand, loved it. Variety, as much as you want, all for one price. He was a happy, happy man. (and I was a happy woman, b/c my man was happy...and b/c I was the first - and not the fiftieth - to eat off the sushi buffet).

This is but a small glimpse of all the blue we
saw at FanFest. Now multiply that by...100s. Seriously.

Back to FanFest. We learned the tickets are normally $30 each. Wow. People pay that much to go to this?? It was a huge room (okay, a room sounds too small...it was HUGE. It was the KC convention center. This isn't like the SF convention center....maybe 3 of those all together. This place was BIG.) teaming with Royals fans. Blue everywhere. (a few other fans sporting their team's duds, but mostly all Royals' fans.) We walked around for a while (I'm not even sure how to describe it - it was all these different booths and activities sponsored by different companies...baseball hall of fame things, a PS3 baseball game area with tons of PS3s, 2 full size fields for hitting balls...tons of stuff) and we did one activity where you try to pitch the ball threw different tires. I decided to show hubby my skills and made three of my pitches into the tire. He was even more impressed b/c he didn't make any. Girl power! (or pure luck. We're going to say I'm just that good.)

In the infamous words of Porky Pig....th-th-th-that's all folks!

Searching for Fellowship 2

This past Sunday we checked out Restore Community Church - it was really close to home (it's still weird saying that) and we liked it better than the church we went to last week. We still aren't sure if it's a good fit for us though. It was a bigger church (held in a school auditorium) and congregation, which we liked - but it also meant nobody noticed we were new. Coming from a big church, we know things like that can happen really easily.

Their (possibly summer) theme is "ICNU" and is "an Old Testament character-focused series about how God sees things in us that we don't see in ourselves." (thanks, Restore website) This week was about Moses and how God had plans for him to be a leader and lead the Hebrews out of bondage long before he was born. The real-life application was that God sees in us a person who is supposed to be a leader in blessing the world - they also made an appeal at the end, or offered opportunities, for the congregation to become a leader right in their own church and community. They were really arts-focused and incorporated the song Beautiful Things by Gungor (give it a listen, it's worth it) in a meaningful part of the service. As we walked in, we were given a small baggie of dirt and during this part we went to the front and added our dirt to a large pot with everyone else's and they planted a large plant to symbolized how God uses each one of us together - as leaders or not as leaders - to create beautiful things in this world.

We really appreciated the service - although communion flustered me: you drink the cup and eat the bread as the plates come to you...I just felt really rushed and like it wasn't as meaningful.... - and we're not writing off this church yet, one main thing that we talked about was how the service wasn't very deep, but we recognize that the message was perfect for the audience that they are trying to reach.

A friend of ours from college suggested a church that his aunt and uncle go to, so we're thinking about checking that one out this coming week. Our church search continues, but it's very enlightening and interesting to see the different ways that people worship and the different ways that God listens to all of us.

Food & Drink. It's what we do.

Apparently I'm not a morning person. I used to be, but now I'm not. I've been averaging 10-12hrs of sleep a night since we got here, that seems slightly ridiculous to me - and it's not that I'm going to bed late, I'm still in bed between 9-10pm. I'm thinking I'll need to start getting used to waking up to the alarm again, since I'm hoping a job will present itself in the next few weeks.

Those big white tower things have
something to do with making the beer.
Don't ask me what though.  

Yay! Beer!

On Friday we went on the Boulevard Brewery tour. It's free and you get four 5oz beer samples at the end! (I still don't like beer, but I do like free...especially free beer for my beer-loving hubby.) They're the 2nd largest brewery in MO, with only Budweiser beating them out. It was really interesting hearing how the brewery had grown after it started in 1989. For example, the original goal was to produce 6,000 barrels of beer a year - they now produce 600,000 barrels each year. Impressive.

After the brewery, we went to My Big Fat Greek Restaurant and treated ourselves on a Groupon that we'd purchased in May. We started with Flaming Saganaki, which is imported cheese that they literally light on fire right at your table.

For our main dishes, Jordan enjoyed Lamb Chops and I had the Award-Winning Gyro, both were delicious and we later heard our server recommending our dishes to the table behind us. (We're not sure if she was recommending them because they really are some of the best options on their menu or if she was recommending them because she was drawing a blank when they asked for a recommendation and she looked over and recommended what we ordered. Either way, our dinner was fantastic. Both dishes were served with a zucchini/yellow squash dish, marinated potatoes and rice pilaf. I'm not much of a meat-eater, but I even enjoyed some of my leftover dinner for lunch today!

Sidenote: They had the biggest water glasses I'd EVER seen. For real. Does that glass look huge in the pic? It was really huge. Think 3x the size of normal water glasses at restaurants. I think it's because it's so stinkin' hot in KC. I'm trying to develop the habit of carrying my water bottle everywhere...the times that I forget it, I'm really,truly parched. 


Our dessert, which I unfortunately didn't get a picture of because we devoured it so quickly, was called Loukamades and described as "golden puffs lightly crisped and bathed in sweet honey syrup and topped with vanilla ice cream." They were delicious. It reminded me of those french toast sticks that you can sometimes get at breakfast buffets. Yum. Needless to say, we ate them all.

~*~

Saturday we made a short stop at Gomer's for a wine tasting before heading out to the base again to finish our game with Pat and Mary. I've got to admit...Empire Builder kind of grew on me! It probably helped that I was actually winning for most of the game. Mary surprised us all and won again. You'll notice (from the link) that the game play time is 180mins - that's not a joke, folks. It truly is a 3-4hr game (and it would have been even longer if Mary and Pat weren't so familiar with it). Pat spoiled us, yet again, with a fabulous dinner. This time we enjoyed scallops (Jordan's and my ultimate fav when it comes to seafood), green salad, baked potatoes, and steamed veggies. We topped it all off with a berry cobbler ("amazing" doesn't do it justice) and Breyer's vanilla ice cream (which, I discovered, is both Jordan's and my favorite kind and brand of ice cream). So fantastic. Another wonderful evening with family. We're so, so blessed and thankful to be living close by. 

A Meeting of the Minds

On Thursday we ventured to south KC to meet up with some of the med students. The Foundry was the place of choice and Jordan enjoyed 2 different types of beer and I had a half-priced Appletini ($4) and a Hippie Dip ($6) (amaretto, cranberry juice, orange juice...and maybe rum?). Both were good, but being the type of person who'd rather spend $12 on an entire bottle that will last for many drinks instead of 2 drinks and a tip, I still thought we were wasting our money a bit - but that's not the point of the evening.

It was actually a pretty big group that got together - and this was the first time they'd all met each other, so it was fun to be there for that. I wasn't the only non-student there, which was nice. Amazingly enough, we met another student and his wife who are from SD! And, another strange coincidence, the wife sells PC...like me! We were like-minded on a lot of things, which I'm sure comes from being from SD. We're looking forward to getting to know them more.

The group was 15-20 people, so it was hard to talk to everyone, but our table quickly went deep - they (the med students) started discussing Obamacare, so that conversation went on for quite a while. We also learned about a really cool-sounding psych museum in St. Joseph's that we're planning to visit next week. Other topics included religion/what church to attend, where everyone was from/where they live in KC, their journeys on getting accepted to KCUMB and their disbelief at actually starting med school in a few weeks.

All-in-all, it was a great night and we're looking forward to more like it. It's hard to believe that by this time next year some of our best KC friends may be right here in this group!

Celebrating the 4th...Military Style

For the first time ever, I missed out on the 4th of July with my family. For those of you that know my mom, she loves having guests over. Every 4th of July, mom and dad invite family, friends and neighbors over for swimming, a pork loin (thanks to uncle Paul for providing it!) supper and fireworks (although, they may not have done that this year because of how dry it is). Family is a big deal on both my mom and dad's side and all of us cousins feel the same way, so it was strange and a little sad to miss out this year.

Not that we didn't have our own fun though. A few groups of med students were doing different things (grilling out, going to City Market to watch the fireworks, etc) but we opted to be with the bit of family we DO have around here.

My aunt and uncle live on base about 30mins away from KC. Jordan and I arrived mid-afternoon and spent a rousing afternoon playing Settlers of Catan (in which cousin Mary beat us all!) and then uncle Pat grilled burgers and potato wedges to go with corn on the cob, beans and coleslaw. It was a fine 4th feast if I do say so myself. After dinner Pat, Mary, Jordan and I (the rest of the family was out of town) played Empire Builder...or actually, just started it, we're returning on Saturday to finish out the game. These people (and my hubby!) love strategy games! They're not my forte (isn't a game supposed to be fun!?...the non-hard-thinking type of fun...haha) but I did catch on after a bit and am actually enjoying it. I won't be the winner, but losing in board games doesn't bother me much.

We walked down to the base golf course to watch their firework display and it was huge. For a while there I felt like the fireworks were going 3D on me and coming right in at us...if that makes any sense, haha. It was really cool - and the crowd was huge. Hundreds, I think. I've never watched fireworks with that many people, and it was interesting to think about that all THESE people in the crowd and on base were the ones we had to thank for our continued freedom.

Thanks to Pat and Mary for the wonderful holiday - we're sure thankful to live close to you guys! Missed all of you back home, we hope you had a wonderful 4th!

The military actually does a lot of other stuff that we didn't go to to celebrate the 4th. They had food vendors, air bouncy things for kids, they shoot off the cannon 50 times (once for each state and people from those states cheer as the cannon goes off) and they had band(s?) playing, too. (not like a marching band, but a country band, on stage) The 4th is a BIG celebration on base. 

Boats, Beverages & the Blasted Heat!

On Monday, Jordan and I ventured to small-town MO for a wine tasting and discovered lots of other things to do as well. It reminded me a little of Deadwood...with no #10 Saloon or any gambling ;)

Church converted to winery!

Pirtle Winery is located in what used to be a church and we sampled wines such as Effervescent Blueberry Wine and some different grape blends. The Effervescent wine is bubbly, like champagne. It was good, but not good enough that we wanted to buy any. (Plus, after Jordan's last wine purchase, I think we've got enough to last us at least 2 years!)

We wandered in and out of a few little shops and antique stores, but not many were open on Mondays. We had a good time and it was nice to get out of the heat - it's stinkin' hot down here! Unlike SD, it doesn't cool off in the evenings. It stays right up there in the 90s. Ridiculous.

A happy hubby with his beer samples.
(Sorry for the window glare!)

Scotch eggs!

Weston also has a brewery (O'Malley's 1842 Irish Pub), where Jordan enjoyed a beer flight  and we shared an order of the waitress-recommended Scotch Eggs - hard-boiled eggs wrapped in ground sausage and then deep fried. I normally enjoy my hard-boiled eggs plain, but I thought I'd give these a shot - afterall, July is our "adventure" month!

I was pleasantly surprised to find that they weren't as bad as I thought they'd be (isn't everything that's deep friend always better?), even good. It was kind of like having your entire breakfast or brunch all wrapped up into one bite. There was a little dipping sauce that reminded me of Hollandaise sauce and Jordan thought it tasted like honey mustard. Either way, it was a nice complement.

The best part of Jordan's day was getting a case of O'Malley's beer for $20 (24 bottles) and visiting Weston Tobacco, a little cigar shop that rolls their own cigars. He's planning to return sometime with some other med students that enjoy cigars (because that person isn't me).

~*~

Tuesday brought us to The Steamboat Arabia in City Market (downtown KC). I'd already been to this museum a few years ago when I was in KC for a work conference, but I thought it was really cool and that Jordan would enjoy it, too. In 1856 a steamboat on its way to a port a few miles from KC hit a partial tree and sunk. In the past, going up the Missouri used to be very dangerous because the steamboatmen would cut trees off and use them as fuel - the cut trees bent with the river and became very hazardous for anyone travelling up the river. The Arabia's cargo was all lost (everyone escaped safely) and in the '80's, a group of adventure seekers dug up the Arabia and opened a museum to show what a typical steamboat's cargo was made up of.

  

 

I am under no illusions that my formatting of multiple pictures is grand. I know it needs a bit of work...but right now I'm more interested in getting things out there :) Here's a pic of us, in case you've forgotten our midwestern good looks already. Typical self-portrait style. Maybe next time we'll ask someone to take a pic of us (and maybe next time we won't be in such a dark room!).

After the museum, we checked out City Market. One word: FABULOUS. Fresh veggies for WAY cheaper than the grocery store (farmer's market style). I'll definitely be returning here. We snagged 3 avocados for $2 - the cheapest I've ever seen them in the grocery store is $1 apiece. Other things were similarly priced - 5 peaches for $2, a flat of strawberries for $4 (yes, an entire flat). And the list goes on (but I don't remember any other prices right now).

We also checked out a few shops. One was WONDERFUL. You walked in the door to have your nose assaulted with a powerful mixture of spices. And, each half-cup scoop was only $1! I'll also be returning here - I told J that I wanted to have spices in mind that I wanted and not just buy willy-nilly. Although I kind of wanted to buy willy-nilly...they looked so good and smelled amazing.

That's enough for now. I hope you're enjoying your cities as much as we're enjoying ours!

Searching for Fellowship

Finding a good church here in KC is something that's pretty high on our list (probably even right up there at #1). We've been really blessed to be going to E. Free in SF and will miss Randy's teaching and our fellowship with friends. I've been going there since I was 10, so searching for a church is new phenomena for me!

On Sunday we visited Christ Community in downtown KC. It's a satellite campus of a larger E. Free church in Leawood, KS (which was recommended by Pastor Randy, but is unfortunately too far for us to go to each week). We were surprised when we arrived to find that it's a VERY small church. There were about 10 families there. The pastor and his wife were about our age and we're guessing he went to Moody because  they mentioned moving to KC from Chicago after he finished school. His teaching was good and the fellowship there was real - after the service Jordan and I talked about how we know this would be a place where we'd REALLY have a close church family, simply because it's very, very small. It was strange, though, coming from a big church with worship teams, Sunday school classes, etc, to just have a guitar and to be sitting closer to the pastor in the third row than even the front row is in SF! Both the pastor and his wife were very intentional about reaching out to us and making sure we felt welcomed, which we both appreciated - we know, from coming from a large church, how easy it is for new people to slip in and out and never be noticed.

We have a list of other churches we'd like to visit and are looking forward to this coming Sunday to see what God has in store. If you were searching for a new church, what's something that would be high on your list?

Gas Station Food

I know this will be a surprise, but this post ISN'T about food on our drive down here!

Jordan loooooves bbq, and I'll have to say it's been growing on me, too, what with Ribfest for dad's birthday and sharing 1/2 racks of ribs from every vendor to determine the best - Willingham's always gets my vote! But that's neither here nor there....

On Saturday night - our first evening alone in KC - Jordan wanted to take me out for bbq at the same place he'd gone out to eat while we were down a few months ago for my interview at Hallmark. He'd gotten a lot of recommendations and had LOVED the bbq, so we just had to go.

But first - thanks to dad, mom and Lucas for all their help! We so appreciate them driving down with us (thanks, dad for driving the moving truck!), getting us unpacked after the apartment mixup and helping us clean up after the washer overflowed (it was one thing after another our first two days here!). We love you guys so much and are glad you were here to help us get settled!

Back to Saturday dinner....we waited in line for an HOUR at a gas station to eat Oklahoma Joe's bbq - and apparently this is a NORMAL wait! WOW. Sadly, I didn't remember to take a pic after I got my plate of food (I'm not in the habit yet of taking pics!) but it was delicious! I had a beef brisket sandwich and a (hefty!) serving of fries. Yum.

Photo courtesy of www.onourownpath.com who also enjoyed Oklahoma Joe's at some point!


I've heard from many that KC is known for their bbq and if you come visit, we'll probably ask if you want to go here and stand in line for an hour for gas station food!

A Cross-Country Adventure...In More Ways Than One

The moving truck was packed, the SD apartment was cleaned, our cars were loaded to the roof...yet it still didn't seem quite real that we were moving across the country (or just a few states away). We got a bit of a late start as our chatty manager took a long time to check us out, but got on the interstate around 9am. We caught up to mom and Lucas a little past Sioux City and our three cars caravaned for the rest of the trip. Dad had left earlier and was a ways ahead of us. 

All was fine until about 1.5hrs from KC - there'd been an accident involving a semi and another vehicle and they'd closed down a stretch of interstate. We drove through a few ghost towns and finally made it back to the interstate. Jordan's car doesn't have AC or radio, so I think he had the "toughest" drive. This detour added about 2hrs to our trip. 

When we finally arrived at our new apartment, I was super relieved. I just wanted to see where we would be living for the next four years and get stuff unpacked and start getting settled. Little did I know God had other plans. 

I should have known something was going to go wrong when our renter's folder wasn't complete at the apartment - they didn't have our signed applications (which I'd faxed back and received confirmation that they were received), our renter's insurance, our electric confirmation, our rent check...basically nothing. Everything that I'd sent to our leasing agent and had confirmed that she'd received wasn't there. 

It got worse...after we got our keys and headed up to the apartment I first noticed that our three accent walls weren't painted, and then noticed a washer and dryer that shouldn't have been there, and then torn and stained carpet, dirty bathrooms, unpainted walls...long story short, they moved us to a new apartment. Everyone was super helpful and really nice, even though I was really upset. 

Now that we're here, Jordan and I actually like this apartment better - God's always got a better plan. The rent and utilities will be cheaper (b/c it isn't third floor), one of two pools is directly behind us, we're really close to the rear exit and the trash compactor and the whole apartment just looks nicer and cleaner than the other one. And now we're pretty much on a first-name basis with all the leasing agents and maintenance staff, so that can't be all bad. 

Unloading the truck went well and I was SO happy we decided to hire two movers to help out Saturday AM. They were machines and got everything done in less than 2hrs. If you're ever moving, I highly recommend hiring people to unload the truck. It was totally worth the money (and not all that expensive!). 

The only other annoying thing about switching apartments is that we had to redo all the work we'd done to change our address. Jordan was a rockstar and took care of all the calls after I looked up the numbers. Good man! 

We've done some exploring already, but I'll save that for another post. I know SD is hotter than normal this summer and apparently so is KC! Every day my phone tells me "KCMO: Excessive heat warning." 

Pics of our apartment to come after they've painted our accent walls (we get five now instead of three - part of their apology for the mixup) and I get some pics hung up.

Enjoy the sun!