Changes Ahead

So many new and exciting things are happening in the Paul household.  We are moving at the end of the month to a sweet, little condo on the west side.  J is peddlin' scrips for the Chronicle while still spinning all his other plates.  Tofer jets off for Couer d'Alene to chase a rainbow.  And,  I'm following a dream of my own.  In April I'm starting my own photography business.  Scary, exhilerating, and surreal all knotted together in the core of me whenever I think about it.  Yesterday I purchased a website, and domain name.  A friend is helping me come up with a logo and designing a flyer.  Then there is the banking, pricing, recordkeeping, email, phone, lisence, printer, ...  Details up the Wahzoo!  :)  So forgive me if, in the midst of all these new adventures, this blog is quiet. 
I promise I will post when I can.  I'll put up a link to the website when it's functioning and let you know when we have officially kicked-off! 
In the meantime, I could use your prayers!  We all could!  :) 

In the Kitchen

I've spent a good deal of time in the kitchen this week.
For family night on Tuesday I cooked Oh, glo-RAY Spuh-Get-TAY!
Leeks, bacon, cushed tomatoes, basil, & garlic over spaghetti noodles.
Yesterday I made Chicken Tortellini Florentine soup and this wonderfully easy Bosc Pear & Mascarpone Folded Tart, for a friend who just had hip replacement surgery.
It's a recipe from Francis Mayes, and we adore it.
Needless to say, I made one for them and one for us.

I thought I'd share the recipe. We can all use more simple, tasty dessert recipes, right? :)
For pastry:
1 + cups of flour (flour always needs adjusting when I make pastry)
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 c. shortning
1/4 c. ICED water
mix the flour and salt. cut in the shortning until it mix crumbly looking. add iced water (without ice) and mix thoroughly. refrigerate while working on filling.
(you could buy already made pastry and it would be even faster!)

Filling:
2-3 pears, washed and cored
2, 8 oz. containers of Mascarpone cheese
1/4 tsp Ginger
1/8 tsp lemon extract
1/8 c. sugar
+ sugar to sprinkle on crust before baking

Preheat oven to 350F. Slice pears thin wedges. Set aside. Mix Mascarpone with ginger, extract, and sugar. Set aside. Remove pastry dough from ice box and roll out to 1 & 1/3 the size of your pie plate. Position pastry in plate and smooth Mascarpone mix evenly over bottom. Arrange pear slices on top (they don't HAVE to be arranged, but Its simple to lay them in a slightly overlapping circle). Fold edges of dough over top. They probably won't come to the center. I like to arrange 6 more slices on top because it looks pretty, but it isn't in Mrs. Mayes recipe. Neither is sprinkling the top with a little bit of sugar to make it sparkle, but I do that too.
Bake it for 30 minutes (or until it is crusty and golden).

We slice it just like pie.

Let me know if you make it and what you think! Hope you love it as much as we do!

Lemongrass

J took me to the new Thai restaurant for a belated Valentine dinner.

At Home::

I cherish these days spent cleaning and cooking for my family.

Portfolio Shoot

A few of the shots from Tofer's Promo shoot.

LOVE

Conner and Marion made my Valentine's Day.

Don't Be Shy

I guess LAST month was official delurk month.  I'm a little slow, but I'd still love to know!  Please take a moment to tell me you were here! 

While you are at it, tell me what you are planning for Valentine's Day!  I'm looking for ideas, thanks to some SWEET freinds who blessed us with some cash for a date night! (big thanks to all of you!!!!!!)

Saints Win!

We took over Lion's Ridge Lodge for the big game!

All Because of Relationship

As many of you who are long time blog readers know, Minda has had a dream of becoming an archaeologist since she was 5 or 6. Grama Linda bought her a palentology dig trip for her 13th birthday just to fuel her dream. Since we moved to Montana she has been dreaming of the hot, dry sands of Egypt even more.
Rewind again to when this dream first began.
We had just become a part of the budding 'internet world' and Yahoo Chat in particular. James being a musician and worship leader went to a Christian chat room and asked, "Anyone want to talk about worship?" A woman from Texas replied and they began a long conversation that covered a wide variety of topics. When they finished, James told her she reminded him of me in so many ways he'd love to get us together to chat too. The next night we did. Her name was Zanetta. Her husband, Randy, didn't believe I was real. :)
That was the beginning of our relationship. We hit it off immediately, and have stayed close over the past 11 years!

Now, back to the present. Just after Minda's graduation in May, Zanetta and Randy announced their intention to become full time missionaries in Israel. Through an offhanded comment on Facebook, about being able to get Minda awfully close to Egypt if she came with them to Israel, plans and dreams began to take on form and flesh. Questions started pouring out of her. How much would she need? How long would she be there? What would she be doing? Could she possibly go to school there? Visit Egypt? Would they really be willing to allow her to come?

She leaves in June! They will be living in the main port city of Haifa where they will be working with the poor, beginning an outreach to college students at the University of Haifa, and providing some 'home' contact for the naval forces that dock there.
BUT - her favorite part so far? No Snow! Warmth. Sun. Sea Breezes. Fresh Figs. And, Oh yeah! The possibility of gaining a student visa and remaining in Haifa to get her archaeology degree.
Who would have guessed an internet chat 11 years ago would have congealed into a lasting friendship that would be an avenue to a little girl's dream coming to pass?
All is falling into place, piece by piece. We are still working out details. Another thing you can all be praying about! We are just a bundle of prayer needs in this household!

Olympic Hopeful

Our son is and, honestly, always has been a performer. If any of you watched the hanging of the Christmas ornaments video, you know he likes the camera. More than that he has talent. He is gifted in so many arenas, in fact, that it's a little overwhelming.

At Joel and Courtney's wedding in October, Aunt Marilyn (a performer in her own right), gave him the name of an agent to contact if he ever wanted to seek representation and pursue acting, singing, songwriting, dancing, modeling as a career (or even just to earn $$ toward further education).
3 weeks ago he auditioned for that agent. He performed 2 songs, one accapella (they had no piano for him) & one on guitar (both original pieces. Music and lyrics by him), read a cold script, and presented a self-choreographed dance.
He walked away with all 10's.
The agency asked him to be a part of the USA team at the World Championship of Performing Arts (a team of about 300 kids from 8-19 years old in 25 categories of performance) & to come and begin training with some of the coaches. An "olympics" of performance talent.
He'll be training in voice, instrument, poise, acting, perfomance, exercise, +.  The next 6 months will be intense.
He is moving in March and I will see him little to none over the time he is training, and my heart is sad to have to let go a bit more, but blessed to see him happy and pursuing a dream.
This is not the road I would have chosen for him - but it isn't mine to choose. I'm learning to be a whole new kinda of mama.
I'm also learning to be a whole new kind of daughter of God.
Trust. So simple in theory, but when you have no way of controlling the circumstances around you, when there is nothing you can do if something goes wrong &, worse, it is flesh and blood dearer than your own that is on the line, trust becomes your only sustenance.
Ps. 37:5 is my mantra right now-
"Commit all to the Lord. Trust Him also."
(I go for simplicity)
I'll keep you posted as things progress. He is writing personal monolouges, giving notices for his departure, making arrangements to live and work there, and dealing with the general stresses of life (car troubles, paying bills, things not working right...).
Next week I'm taking his promo shots. Nice that my photography skills come in handy somewhere.
Pray for us.

One More

One serious bundle of JOY!

Bragging

Sara is officially married to a Pin-Up! Mr. September, Ladies and Gents.

Lil' Peanut

I watched Amelia all last week. She was feelin' pukey - Can you tell?

I couldn't either. Such a sweet girl.

With Love, For Wyatt

There are advantages to being part of a smaller community. One is that when you are hurting, those around you hurt with you.
A few weeks ago Wyatt Welch, a junior at Belgrade High, was warming up for a wrestling match when he landed wrong and broke his neck. He was flown to Denver, but those left behind in Belgrade wanted him to know that they were with him, even 500 miles away.
A benefit auction, concert, taco feed & carnival were arranged to raise funds for his medical expenses.

A fellow church plant, Imagine, took on organizing the carnival for the kids and asked us, Summit Church, to be a part.

The whole thing was a huge hit. We all decorated, and took pains to make sure it looked festive and fun for the kiddos.

We were busy with spinning paint and laughter all evening. Here's Minda helping Gracie create a work of art!

We created some ourselves for Minda to take home for her wall or cards or notebook covers...

Toward the end of the carnival we gathered most of the attendees for a photo to send to Wyatt. 

Can you feel the love?