We're Back On The Grid

Our power is back on! Or, as they are saying around here, we are "back on the grid."

Many in Louisville are still without power, though, including our church. We had our worship service outdoors this morning, which was very cool.




From conversations this morning, it is clear that this has been a long week for many, and, particularly for those still without electricity, nerves are frayed.

On a brighter note, I have a request to share some grilling recipes, created during our power outage:


Grilled Peaches

Cut fresh peaches in half and pull out the pit. Place peach halves, face down, directly onto hot grill. Cook until soft, about 15 minutes. Remove peaches from grill and place face up on serving plate. Drizzle with honey. As good as peach pie, but healthier!


Creole Tinfoil Packets

1 link smoked sausage, halved and sliced
1 green bell pepper, sliced into thin strips
1/2 cup sliced onion
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
Olive oil
Garlic powder
Cumin
Chili powder

Spray 4 sheets of tinfoil with cooking spray. Portion out sausage, peppers, onions, and beans on the tinfoil sheets. Drizzle each serving with just a bit of olive oil. Sprinkle with garlic powder, cumin, and chili powder. Wrap edges of foil up and around the food and seal like a package. Place tinfoil packets directly on grill and cook until vegetables are tender, about 15 minutes. About 4 servings.

Enjoy!

~~~

5th of July Party

We continued celebrating Independence Day with a 5th of July Party today with our Adult Bible Fellowship....

Little Gracie, Big Grace, and Kay-wa (as Calvin calls these sweet girls). These three are already good multi-taskers...they are playing Old Maid while swinging ~


We had a great time swimming today. My hands were too full to take pictures while I was swimming with Cal and Ted (imagine that), but afterwards I snagged a photo of the Davenport family ~

Precious little Katherine pushed herself up to standing for the first time today. Isn't she a doll? ~

Some card sharks emerged ~

Great food, of course ~

My food contributions were two kid-pleasers ~

Dorislee after doing an underwater back flip. This is one talented attorney ~

Some of the firecracker-happy Baum family ~

A super cute Beaner Baby ~

A big thanks to Eric and Amy for opening up their home to us! What fun to spend the day with our church friends!

The Power of the Cross

Tonight we went to church to hear the worship choir and orchestra perform a special Easter presentation. It was fabulous! The music was accompanied by video clips from the JESUS film. It was a moving presentation. As clips played from the crucifixion scene, the choir sang "The Power of the Cross," by Keith Getty and Stuart Townend. This powerful song has the following refrain:

This, the power of the cross:

Christ became sin for us

Took the blame, bore the wrath

We stand forgiven at the cross

The message of tonight's music has set my heart on the true meaning of Easter, that Jesus bore my sin, took my death penalty, and then conquered death.

The song ends in this way:

Oh, to see my name

Written in the wounds

For through your suffering I am free

Death is crushed to death

Life is mine to live

Won through your selfless love

This the power of the cross

Son of God, slain for us

What a love! What a cost!

We stand forgiven at the cross

What a love, what a cost. Thank you, Lord, for forgiveness in Christ Jesus.

Recipe Alert: Beef 'N Potato Bake

Our blog name isn't really about the content of our blog. It's a reference to the composition of our family bookshelves: Ken's commentaries and Kim's cookbooks. It means that this blog is a little bit Kim and a little bit Ken.

I do want to post a recipe today, though. Two weeks ago we shared a delicious potluck lunch with our Adult Bible Fellowship group at church. I brought an old family favorite, Beef 'N Potato Bake. Several families said they liked it and wanted the recipe, so this one's for my ABF friends:

Beef 'N Potato Bake

4 cups Southern Style frozen
hash brown potatoes
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 lb. ground beef
1 packet powdered Brown Gravy Mix
1 cup water
½ teaspoon garlic salt
1 10 oz. pkg frozen mixed vegetables (green beans, lima beans, carrots, corn, peas)
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 can French’s Fried Onions


Heat oven to 400 F. In a 9 x 13 in. baking dish, combine potatoes, oil and pepper. Press mixture across bottom of pan. Bake, uncovered, at 400 F. for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, in skillet, brown beef and drain fat. Stir in gravy mix, water and garlic salt; bring to a boil. Add mixed vegetables. Reduce heat to medium and cook 5 minutes. Stir in ½ cup cheese and ½ can fried onions. Spoon over baked hash browns. (The casserole can easily be covered and frozen at this point and baked at a later date.) Bake, uncovered, at 350 F. for 15 minutes (30 minutes if frozen). Sprinkle with remaining cheese and fried onions. Bake 5 minutes longer. Makes 6 generous servings.



I make this one so often I could probably do it in my sleep. We had it yesterday, in fact, and finished the leftovers tonight. We had this a lot growing up, so it's a comfort food for me. Hope you like it!

Our Last Christmas Party of the Season

Last night, we had our Sunday school class over for a late Christmas/New Year's party. It's kind of fun to let the Christmas season linger on into January! We had a delicious potluck ham dinner. Between the dining room table at full length...


And a second dining table set up in the entry way...

We comfortably sat fifteen people for dinner! Here are a few pictures of our friends enjoying the fellowship in our home:

This group on the couch is watching the Packers game. What Christmas party is complete without football, right?




We also played a group game that revealed some little-known facts about one another. Every one's kiddos were with baby-sitters, so we all actually enjoyed some uninterrupted conversations. It was a fun night! And now, it's time for the Christmas decorations to come down.

Preschool Christmas Party

We had a fun time at the church Christmas party for families of preschoolers on Sunday night. As I thought, it was a riot. I played Christmas carols and sang to a fidgety group. The whole time, there was something of a low roar, as all the kids talked, screamed, cried, etc. Pastor Jeff read the Christmas story after that and remarked, "Tough crowd. Kind of like preaching at a nursing home." Very true. The kids enjoyed decorating Christmas cookies. Here is a picture of Calvin with his Sunday School teacher, Miss Becky.

Here are some of Calvin's friends from Sunday School, also enjoying decorating their cookies.

Christmas At Ninth & O Baptist

The past couple weeks have been an exciting time of attending Christmas events at our church, Ninth & O Baptist. Two weeks ago, the Sunday evening service was "Family Night and Christmas Cookies." All the children went to the worship service with their parents; there were no children's activities or nursery. The service was brief, with a few people sharing their faith stories of how God has worked in their lives, and the children's choirs singing. Afterwards, everyone mingled in the worship center, where tables of Christmas cookies were set out. My boys loved it...the cookies especially, but also playing with all the kids and hearing the music.

Then, last Friday night, our Sunday School class had a Christmas party at church with the senior adult class. We had a wonderful dinner. Calvin and Teddy each had two helpings of sweet potato casserole. It was nice to meet some more of the seniors at church. We've met so few at this point. The seniors doted on all the children in our group. Anyway, it was just a great night, tons of fun. Calvin made a new friend named Gracie; they chased one another around and fought "monsters" hiding around the Christmas tree.

On Sunday evening, the church's choir and orchestra performed a concert entitled, "Love's Pure Light." It was fabulous! If they had done the same concert three nights in a row, I would have been there every night. The songs and narrations helped me set my heart on Jesus during this Christmas season. They sang about Jesus being Emmanuel, God with us. Ever since the concert, I have been meditating on Emmanuel, God becoming flesh and making his dwelling among us.

This coming Sunday, we will attend yet another party at church, this time for all the families of preschoolers. That should be a riot. I will be leading the group in Christmas carols

Water Day for Calvin & Teddy Dean at church

Our church has weekly activities planned for the preschoolers. We went to the Water Day at the church on Tuesday. Here are some pictures of Kim, Calvin and Teddy Dean. The one picture is of our friends Kim, Shelby and Caleb Davenport.

Family, church, school and work

Life has become very full for the Schmidt family. We have spent a lot of time reading. Calvin participated in the Jeffersontown Free Public Library Summer Reading Program. He read enough books to become a SuperReader! He loves Dr. Seuss, Curious George, Doreen Cronin and Mary Carlson (from Bloomington, MN!) books. We read him the Bible every night. Just before bedtime he yells out, "Bible time Daddy! Bible time!" Bible time consists of first reading the story of Jonah and the big whale and then we continue from wherever we left off the night before. We are reading about Paul right now and have just about finished the Ken Taylor children's Bible. We just purchased a book called The Jesus Storybook Bible. Kim researched and found this Bible. It is great because it is the Scriptures and it tells how the stories and people point to Jesus Christ. We will begin reading it soon.

Teddy is eating squash, sweet potatoes, pears and bannanas. He loves to play Calvin's piano. He will sit there and plunk the keys and giggle. He also loves his big brother. The other day Kim tried to put the boys down for naps in the same room. Although they were exhausted they had each other wide awake and laughing within a few minutes. They are back in separate rooms...

Kim is busy with the family and church. She takes care of the three boys with meals, activities and all the hard work of maintaining a home. She is also getting to know the ladies at the church. Our church has an active preschool ministry. Kim and the boys have a weekly playgroup with other moms and preschoolers from church. They have been to the zoo, had a water day (Bouncy house water slide, water baloons, slip & slide, etc.) and frequent playground playdates. The Lord has blessed her with some great women friends. Calvin has a list of 'new' friends: Michael, Maree, Shelby, Caleb, Caden, Jonathan and Thomas.

I am enjoying time with Kimberly and the boys. Calvin keeps us in stitches. His latest phrase is, "That's not right." Yesterday he used it on me when I had to straighten out the van in a parking spot. I have been working on my Hebrew in the mornings. The evenings are spent at The Macaroni Grill as I finish training for my serving job. Sundays are the highpoint. We just love our church. I have been blessed to develop a friendship with one of our pastors, Jim Meeks. He is such a godly man with a love for the Word and the people in the church. I am learning more and more about serving the church from this man.

I have included some pictures of the boys.

Enjoy!

Church Life at Ninth and O Baptist

Today we attended the membership class called Class 101 at Ninth & O Baptist. It was a four hour seminar taught by Pastor Jeff Elieff and Pastor Bill Cook, covering the Gospel message of salvation, the meaning and importance of baptism, the Lord's Supper, the Ninth & O purpose statement, and membership expectations. We enjoyed learning more about the church and plan to present ourselves for membership next Sunday morning.

Pastor Bill Cook is also known as Dr. Bill Cook, a professor of New Testament at Southern Seminary. We learned tonight that he teaches full-time at the seminary, but has been the senior pastor at Ninth & O for six years. He preaches at the church most Sunday mornings, provides direction and vision for the church, and leads and disciples his pastoral staff. He is preaching through the book of Romans. This morning was Romans 8: 19-25, "Life in the Spirit: A Life of Suffering and Glory." He is a fantastic preacher and very personable. In fact, he stopped us in the foyer this morning to introduce himself and find out about us!

We feel blessed to have quickly found a church to call home.