what is going on?

i must report to those afar there has been snow TWICE this week, and we're lucky (in tacoma) to get snow at our house twice a year! granted it's not much, but today is like record-setting in that it has been thickly snowing for almost three hours straight. that's very unusual.

this is what it looks like outside!

i'm headed over the surprisingly snowy snoqualmie pass today to lead worship for an adoptive moms retreat weekend. the retreat is at a mountain lodge. you'd think the roads would be safe at the end of march! at least i hear they have a hot tub:)

those flowers that were blooming are now bloomed and hopefully not FREEZING. spring crazies are here.

tattoo artists in town

so what do you think of our new matching tattoos? watch out, becka's is a cobra. i don't know what she was thinking!

peep wars

thanks to heather and drew laforge, if i remember correctly, peep wars are now an easter tradition amongst our college friends, after worshiping the risen Christ, of course! it's a strategy game, really, and our newbies, the shriver's who have never before played and who normally actually EAT those things, took away the championship last night. peeps begin with a toothpick placement aimed at their opponent, then the microwaving begins!
here are some of the contestants.

peep abbie and reid

peep andy (the guy who really eats them)

peep prep

peep defeat (the yellow peep - team isaacson - obviously incurred a lower flesh wound from the vicious blue)

peep tie - dual death and dual victory!

i also made 2 fabulous-looking (not bad-tasting, either) white chocolate raspberry tortes. my favorite of course was the topping. the filling is king of a custardy-cool whip-gelatin-white chocolate kind of a texture, if you like that. two thumbs up i guess!

hot babes

UW turns out to be good for something! jk. the arboretum near campus is a beautiful section of land dotted with flowering trees and winding paths that make you forget you're in the middle of a bustling metropolis. we turned the opportunity into a photo shoot. here are a couple:

the BIG news

Tim and I have feve(red) announcements to make:

WE ARE GOING TO CHINA!
and, even bigger but not as far,

WE'RE MOVING TO BOSTON!!!
It's official! Our deposit check to Boston University's School of Public Health will be on its way tomorrow, and I'll be pursuing a Master of Public Health (MPH) degree beginning this Fall! It's a 2 year program and I'll be concentrating on Social and Behavioral Sciences, with a chance to continue gaining practical skills for HIV/AIDS prevention education in both local and global communities, all while adding some exciting classes on nutrition and food policy! About a million things helped us make this decision, and some of the big ones are:

fun adventure for a couple years
too great to pass up

meets long-term goal for future

great program (with nutrition emphasis)
love the city (check our a previous post on Boston)
personal character and relationship growth
definite options for financial help
rare learning environment for us both
people have promised to visit!!

As for going to China, we have reservations to Beijing to visit our good friend Noah Chang June 20-30. We're going to help with the organization he works for called Compassion for Migrant Children. And we get to camp on the Great Wall! Ni how!

So, looks like our vocabulary will continue to favor lots of "B" words. We of course would love to be telling everyone in person about these exciting character-growing decisions, and we still welcome real conversations - this is just an easy and quick way of giving everyone a heads up. Our life is changing! We look forward to staying in touch and hearing about all of yours in the years to come. Keep checking for progress on both these adventures!

comfort foods

i've been enjoying more time to cook different meals or try new yummy recipes, and i'd thought i'd share a few of my recent comfort foods:

meag and i made Chicken and Root Vegetable Pot Pies on saturday.
peas, carrots, onions, corn, celeraic root, (parsnips)
sweet potatoes and rustic potatoes, cubed chicken
milk and flour and salt/pepper
buttery pastry dough for topping


then i made a Fruit Protein Smoothie with Wheat Germ
blueberries, a banana, cran-raspberry juice and plain yogurt.
that's tim's spiderman cereal 'spraw' spiraling upward to my mouth!

for our sunday night dinner group this week we made
Sweet Potato Ravioli with Lemon-Sage Brown Butter
cinnamon, nutmeg, fresh parmesan and sweet potato.
tim and I had fun mashing the stuffed wanton wrappers together with egg whites before boiling the raviolis. never would have guessed.

i also made cincinnati chili using Garam Masala as one of the main spices. more yumminess to come (after we eat the leftovers!)

the sickies

lately i've been eating, crying, napping and playing just about us much as the babies i'm watching. my whole schedule has been thrown off. i shower at odd times. i wake up hungry; i go to 'work' and play; i just about fall asleep when they do; i snack when they do; i play some more; i come home hungry; i'm tired so i take a nap (these have been averaging about 2 hours this week!); and usually i wake up feeling poopy...well never mind about that. (poopy in my HEAD and about this school decision). the past three days have been worst as i've gotten the sickies. there were piles of kleenexes strewn all over the house in every room, partly from my runny nose and partly from my runny eyes. what an emotional roller-coaster my life has taken! i don't cry much as long as tim's around. he's so great, and he responds much better to me when i forget the baby voice:)

springinnings

around here, there have been signs of spring popping and perking up everywhere.

although days of rain still abound, it's refreshing to see some heads of color deciding to break through anyway.

a much-needed reminder for me in this crazy time of indecision!

Boston Bound?

well friends, the curve ball thrown last week was a closed door to the MPH program at UW in Seattle that we were hoping for. after 5 long days of moping, i received a big envelope from Boston U welcoming me to their program! just not exactly how we had imagined this all working out...and we're still not certain whether we're packing our life up and heading to the other coast or not. we love the idea of such an adventure, and this is a great time of our life to pursue it. we just don't love the idea of moving away from our community and tim's family, which is growing! (thanks to everyone who's told us they'd come visit though:) it's just much more complicated than Seattle would have been! and maybe that's what God has in mind - something to stretch us WAY beyond our comfort zone to grow our faith, as we've been praying. is this our answer? a detour? a better way, or a closed door? we need some major discernment and have until april 1 to decide. here's to difficult times! and to something bigger than we can see with our eyes. without Hope, we'd be lost puppies! at least it feels that way sometimes. again, we're open to suggestions. comment away. we'll keep you 'posted.'

arch cape escape

is it just me or are we totally spoiled? another weekend away. i do have to say it's not every day that things go our way, but there are definitely some. part of me has never quite grown up in that i somehow still expect my way anyway, and i throw tantrums (possibly equivalent to when i was a two-year-old?) when it doesn't happen. the mature-me (that is, the spirit-me) recognizes that life to throws curve balls and that happiness is rarer than joy. the kid-me often trumps the latter.

well this weekend was an example of spoil and joy in the midst of confusion. the sun was a welcomed friend on the coast of oregon, at arch cape, just south of cannon beach. nothing beats good friends, good food, the sound of unending crashing waves, baby smiles, and a hot tub. oh, and settlers, of course.

good friends
(hellekson's, eyes, brown's, moody's)

baby smiles

(micah)

Babe Tim

Arcadia Beach

PS - happy birthday, Julie!!