We're baaaaaaack...

We're well overdue for an update, so sorry for the long post!  We've been busy doing lots of fun things.

Hhhmmm...where to start?

Two weekends ago, our dear friend Kim came to visit!  We were so thankful to see a friendly face and the chance to spend lots of sweet time with such a special friend to both of us.  We did lots of fun "Boston-y" things and had a blast.  We started with the Freedom Trail, hit up the North End for lunch, got some cannollis for dessert, and soaked up the sun on Bunker Hill.  Then we made our way to the Sam Adams brewery and came home to make a yummy salmon dinner.

The next day we headed up the coast toward New Hampshire.  We took a beautiful drive right along the beach.  It was a little too cold for a beach day, but we enjoyed the views.  We stopped in Portsmouth, NH, one of my favorite towns, for a meal at The Friendly Toast and some window shopping.

 

 Kim and I were both weirdly nursing a foot injury...she broke her little toe...I sprained my foot from running.  We were two pathetic little girls....

On Sunday, Kim headed back to Virginia and I headed to the Gloucester Half Marathon.  It was the most hilly race I've ever run....and my foot was not thanking me for running 13 miles on it....but it felt really good to run a long race again.  Curt and our neighbors were awesome cheerleaders!

The next weekend, Maseel (our friend from JMU) and his wife Sumera were in town with her parents.  We had a great time meeting up with them in the city and going on a duck tour.  Confession:  I've secretly wanted to do this since we arrived here and I was SO excited.  It had all the elements of a great tour:  cheesy tour guide making ridiculous puns, historical facts about the city, lots of useless information, AND a tank-type thing that doubles as a boat!  How could you go wrong??

On Sunday we went to celebrate our neighbors, Preston and Sarah, with a baby shower.  They are expecting a little boy in June and we are SO excited for them....but we are also sad because they are moving away and I won't be able to babysit :(

We can't wait to meet him!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter! 

Confession:  I LOVE old hymns.  Call me a nerd, but my old bible study leader gave me an old Presbyterian hymnal and it is probably one of my favorite gifts.   The hymn below is one of my all-time favorites and today is the perfect day to share it.


Christ the Lord is Risen Today

Christ, the Lord, is risen today, Alleluia!
Sons of men and angels say, Alleluia!
Raise your joys and triumphs high, Alleluia!
Sing, ye heavens, and earth, reply, Alleluia!

Love’s redeeming work is done, Alleluia!
Fought the fight, the battle won, Alleluia!
Lo! the Sun’s eclipse is over, Alleluia!
Lo! He sets in blood no more, Alleluia!

Vain the stone, the watch, the seal, Alleluia!
Christ hath burst the gates of hell, Alleluia!
Death in vain forbids His rise, Alleluia!
Christ hath opened paradise, Alleluia!

Lives again our glorious King, Alleluia!
Where, O death, is now thy sting? Alleluia!
Once He died our souls to save, Alleluia!
Where thy victory, O grave? Alleluia!

Soar we now where Christ hath led, Alleluia!
Following our exalted Head, Alleluia!
Made like Him, like Him we rise, Alleluia!
Ours the cross, the grave, the skies, Alleluia!

Hail, the Lord of earth and Heaven, Alleluia!
Praise to Thee by both be given, Alleluia!
Thee we greet triumphant now, Alleluia!
Hail, the resurrection, thou, Alleluia!

King of glory, Soul of bliss, Alleluia!
Everlasting life is this, Alleluia!
Thee to know, Thy power to prove, Alleluia!
Thus to sing and thus to love, Alleluia!

Hymns of praise then let us sing, Alleluia!
Unto Christ, our heavenly King, Alleluia!
Who endured the cross and grave, Alleluia!
Sinners to redeem and save. Alleluia!

But the pains that He endured, Alleluia!
Our salvation have procured, Alleluia!
Now above the sky He’s King, Alleluia!
Where the angels ever sing. Alleluia!

Jesus Christ is risen today, Alleluia!

Our triumphant holy day, Alleluia!
Who did once upon the cross, Alleluia!
Suffer to redeem our loss. Alleluia!

Charles Wesley, 1739

For the love of cilantro...

I haven't been cooking very much lately.  Things have been busy around here.  We're moving into the last few weeks of school for Curt, I've taken on some more responsibility at work,  I'm training for a half-marathon....you get the picture.  I've also been rather uninspired by the recipes I've been seeing lately.  Nothing has really looked good enough to make...until I saw this:  steak tacos with cucumber-avocado salsa

This recipe combines a lot of things that I really really love:  cilantro (it's hard to say in words how much I truly love this herb), avocado, lime, steak...

I wanted to share this because...well...it's worth sharing.  It's easy, it's quick, it has (relatively) few ingredients, and it's sooo amazingly delicious.  In my book, that makes it a recipe well worth sharing.  Here you go!

All of these tasty ingredients go into the salsa.

oooohhhhh cilantro....how I love you!!

All of these yummy things are rubbed on the steak before cooking.  I hear some of you naysayers out there saying, "Cinnamon?  Really??"  Trust me, it was good.

The final product!  We also added a little sour cream and hot sauce.  Sooo good...and easy!

Now go make this for yourself and let me know how it goes!

*Sidenote:  I'm considering giving cooking/baking posts a more regular spot on the blog....but I'm not sure I'm ready for that kind of commitment....yet.  Thoughts??

Ummm...we're taking a class together!

I wrote this post a while ago and somehow never got around to posting it.  Tonight was our last class (sadface)....so I guess it's time to tell you about it!

That's right!  Curt and I are are currently taking New Testament Survey with Dr. Stephen Um (yes, the pun in the title was most definitely intended) on Monday nights.  Curt is taking the class for credit, while I am merely auditing (translation:  Curt has to do all the hard work, and I just get to read the books and listen in class).  It's a pretty good deal for me.

Gordon-Conwell has a great program in which spouses of students can audit one class per semester for free!  As one who loves all things related to school, learning, libraries, pencils, etc....I was thrilled.  It feels really good to be back in a classroom, listening to a really smart professor talk about things I can hardly wrap my brain around.  I am learning words like "septuagint" and "eschatological" and I actually know what they mean.  In short, I am LOVING it.

Our professor is the pastor of our church, Citylife, located in downtown Boston.  He has a heart for planting churches in the city and is an extremely gifted speaker and teacher.  We love that he's an academic as well as a pastor and are learning a lot from his class.  We've benefited from both his understanding of the history of Christianity as well as his relevant insights into issues the Church is dealing with today.  He challenges us to look at the Bible as a whole...as a "one plot storyline" that goes from Creation to the Fall to Redemption to New Creation as well as to view the whole of Scripture (Old and New Testament) in light of what Christ has done for us.

I wish I had a picture, but the class is sort of small and I didn't want to be that creepy girl who's trying not to look like she's taking a picture when she really is....

You can read more about Dr. Um here.....and there's a picture too!

The Next Justin Beiber...

As promised, here is a video of Ben singing.  It's a little long, but so many funny things are happening here...

Ben singing from Curt Kenney on Vimeo.

Visit to Richmond

We went home for quick visit with my family last weekend.  We got to hang out with my family, eat good food, and attend an awesome wedding.  It was a great weekend.

I realized about halfway to the wedding that I left my camera at home (so sad!!).  This blurry shot is all I have of the beautiful bride.  If you want to see some amazing photography, check out the sneak peak on Shay Cochrane's website.

I also did a terrible job taking pictures with my family....I need to work on this!  Here's one of my favorites of Ben.  He has gotten into Yankee Doodle lately.  We have this extremely old keyboard that plays an awesome synthesizer version of "Yankee Doodle" and he LOVES it.  So....my mom made him this hat and he rides his horse and gallops around the sunroom.  It was SO funny.  And yes, we did give him that shirt :)

Aaaaaand just in case the pictures didn't capture it, here you go:

Ben entertained us on Saturday night with stories and songs.  He stands on his "stage" and sings just like my sisters and I did when we were kids.  It was really funny.  Video forthcoming...

Curt hanging with the panda bear.

I think this was when Ben was taking some pictures.  You're welcome, Mary.

Mary Ellen has had enough.  Peace!

Finally!

I found out this past Friday that I passed my last two MTELs (Massachusetts Test for Educator Licensure).  Yay!  I knew this was the last step I needed to take to get my Massachusetts Teaching License, but I had not idea how long it would take to process in the Department of Education's office (I first applied for my license about a year ago and things have been extremely slow-moving).  Long story short, I got an e-mail on Saturday (yup, one day after I passed my test) that my license had been approved!!  Today, the actual license came in the mail and made everything official.  What a weight off my shoulders!  Thank you SO much for all your prayers and words of encouragement.  I appreciate them more than you know.

Now...time to find a teaching job.  If you're the praying type, I would really appreciate your prayers during this time.  Public school teaching jobs are few and far to come by up here.  Please pray with us as I move into a stage of applications, interviews (hopefully!), and possibly considering a move into the city.