the start of something amazing...

Last Spring, a publishing company and a church came together for a beautiful marriage. Like all marriages there have been ups and downs, and a LOT of teamwork. I am excited to share with you a project that I have been blessed to be a part of. It's called Trû Ministry, and I believe that it will change the face of kids and family ministries. When the website went up just over a week ago, I really couldn't believe that it was finally up for all to see. While there are specific people writing the lessons (and I am not one of them), each lesson is brainstormed in a group and I feel so attached to our Prototype lesson for Preschool! As Alex and I were talking about the project last week, I told him that I never would have imagined that I would be working on a curriculum project, yet now, I can't imagine not being a part of this process! I am so excited that God chose the team that he has to work on Trû. I hope you'll take a jump over to www.truministry.com, check out our philosophy and our sample lessons. I'd love to hear what you think!

it's that time again...

...for baseball season! Well, technically it's softball! We went to see our favorite player last saturday, and Alex got some fun shots of his little "Madutas." He wants his own nickname for her since we all have our own!
after getting popped in the face at practice, she stands with her glove over her face and looks through the holes ::

The BEST pulled pork recipe

This photo and recipe come straight from Real Simple via realsimple.com

I tried this recipe a couple of days ago, and I was a little curious whether it would be good or not...oh my, it was GREAT! It's simple, and anything that I can leave cooking while I go to work is always a plus. Here's the recipe, and I hope you'll try it!

• 2 cups store-bought salsa, plus more for serving
• 2 tablespoons chili powder
• 2 tablespoons dried oregano
• 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• kosher salt
• 1 2 1/2-pound boneless pork butt or shoulder, trimmed of excess fat
• 18 corn tortillas
• 1/2 cup fresh cilantro sprigs
• 3/4 cup sour cream
• 1 lime, cut into wedges

1. In a 4- to 6-quart slow cooker, combine the salsa, chili powder, oregano, cocoa, and 1 teaspoon salt. Add the pork and turn to coat

2. Cook, covered, until the meat is tender and pulls apart easily, on high for 4 to 5 hours or on low for 7 to 8 hours.

3. Twenty minutes before serving, heat oven to 350° F. Stack the tortillas, wrap them in foil, and bake until warm, about 15 minutes.

4. Meanwhile, using 2 forks, shred the pork and stir into the cooking liquid. Serve with the tortillas, cilantro, sour cream, lime, and extra salsa.

best idea ever

I just have to say that Mr. Roscoe is a genius. This was the first visit to Roscoe's House of Chicken 'n Waffles for my dad and I, but not for Angelina and David. Dad and I choose the 1/4 chicken smothered in gravy and onions while Angelina and David had the original chicken and waffles. As awkward and weird the combination of chicken and waffles sounds, it definitely isn't. It's one of those "if you haven't tried it you can't bash it" things. No doubt the best waffle I have ever tasted with it's soft, moist, cinnamon taste of goodness. Top that off with some fried chicken and syrup...amazing. Not that I wanted to prove a point, but I was able to cram it all down and still be able to breathe. I mean how could you not finish such a huge plate of goodness. This made quite a highlight in our evening since the Kings hockey game was the real reason for being in downtown LA. As fun as the game was, Roscoe's basically tied that.

shameless plug #2

Twice a year, we offer the Spiritual Parenting intensive at RH. Once in the fall, and once in the spring. It's a great class that was designed for parents, but our entire family ministry staff has been through it, along with our interns and key leaders as it's the foundation of everything we do. Michelle Anthony, who is our Pastor of Family Ministries teaches the class and has some amazing insight. If you know anyone in the greater OC area, I would urge you to suggest this class for them. It will change the way you look at parenting or the way you lead your ministry. Here's the info ::

Description:	This teaching-interactive course will allow parents to be educated, inspired and supported with the tools they need to embark on the quest of raising their children to live out a compelling faith in a way that maximizes spiritual growth.
Facilitator:	Michelle Anthony
Meets:	Tuesdays // March 10, 17, 24, 31 // 6-8pm
Location:	Mini-Lab 1 @ 3080 Airway
Cost:	$20
Notes:	Childcare available upon request.

I hope you or someone you know will join us...you won't be disappointed!

Were awesome

Angelina and I have definitely hit a milestone in our Wii bowling careers. As of yesterday we are both Pro! Angelina is totally proud that she became pro first. Being pro in Wii bowling is quite difficult. Not really, you just have to play a lot and build good scores up. Although we sure think it's an accomplishment. One of the perks we noticed so far is you get a sweet sparkling star decorated ball. I don't really know anything more exciting. Here is a look at us(Wii version).On another note, while putting some food away in the freezer last night I cam across an interesting discovery in our freezer. Angelina mistakenly put some leftover snap peas from lunch in the freezer instead of the fridge. It brought me to an interesting question when I found them. It went something like this...

alex: "umm, why do we have snapeas in the freezer?"

ang: hehehe!

As you can guess they were unedible, hard as rocks, and looked like this...

hair drama

Getting a haircut is a big deal for me. I'm not a fan of haircuts in general even though I have a salon that I love and have been devoted to for 7 years. I am not one of the girls that thinks that it's just hair and it will grow back. I know that it will grow back, however, I really like my hair. I like my style and the color. I just like it. We've been together since birth and I don't let just anyone get near my hair.

So, my first mistake was to try a new salon. I was worried about it, but it was closer to home than my old salon and a tad cheaper so I looked around online and saw that it had GREAT reviews. I didn't see one bad comment so I thought I'd go for it. I made an appointment and Friday was the day. I walked in and thought, "okay, looks like a nice place." The receptionist was super friendly and helpful so some of the apprehension went away. That feeling lasted only until I met my stylist. She was NOT friendly. She asked what I wanted done and I explained that I needed my bangs cut and I like to leave as much length as possible in the back while eliminating split ends. So, she shampoos my hair. Fine. It wasn't the luxurious wash that I'm used to, but whatever. Then she cuts my hair in 10 minutes flat. Weird. Then the blow dry was the worst part. She used a round brush and would roll my hair around the brush and leave it there! At one point there were THREE brushes rolled into my hair. It hurt, and I told her that it hurt, but she left them! The last time I complained about it hurting, she laughed. LAUGHED! I was appalled, but let her finish and got the heck out of there.

As I was walking in the parking lot, I was already on the phone with my old salon. I told them I needed my bangs cut because she didn't even touch them, and they told me to come right in. The guy who helped me was incredibly helpful and basically re-cut and styled my hair for the price of a blow-dry. I will never stray from my salon again! Toni & Guy, I love you and I'm sorry for cheating on you!

Oh, and I did go back to the first place to talk to the owner, and he gave me a full refund. And here's the final product...I am very happy with it.

Our fun trip to...

So, we took a trip to Big Bear Lake/city/mountain two weekends ago with Angelina’s side of the family and it was quite a blast. We stayed in a small cabin on the north/east side of the town and there was a ton of snow. Typically the funniest part about Big Bear is the lack of snow although its pretty cold and at an elevation 7,000 ft. Oh wait, it is still in Southern California. That’s why. Although to me, the fifty degree weather, occasional rain, and fake snow on the mountains is a lot of fun. Where else can you go snowboarding in a sweatshirt or wear workout shorts and snow boots? And hey, shoveling snow is fun for like ten minutes.
We had a good time just chillin’ most of the day Saturday sledding, playing, and building stuff in the snow. Once we found a place to hang out we built a cool sled hill for the girls and a jump for me to snowboard on. We also enjoyed a classic snow ball fight. We were all very nice to each other too. All that and then seeing Sophia being dragged around a in mini sled with her head bobbing and arms flailing around like crazy. We weren’t sure if she liked or not until we stopped and she starting crying. It’s interesting how what we thought would be fun for her, then looked like torture, she really enjoyed. Snow clothes are always fun considering they make you look like an eskimo marshmallow.Angelina and I for sure got a kick out of the drive up the mountain. I think we saw something like 10 winter/ summer like camps in ten minutes. We also saw a whole bunch of interesting signs that don’t typically pop up on the freeway in Orange County. It seems that there is a warning for everything you could ever think would go wrong on a windy mountain drive. So funny I felt that they needed to be documented.