13 Years of Friendship

 

Sad Goodbyes

Last month we had to say goodbye to three different couples we know in one week!  How sad it is when friends move away! But how awesome it is to know that our friendships will continue into eternity!!

 

This picture is from the last night Cori and Derel spent in Tucson before they hit the road for their new home in Vancouver, Washington.  We have gotten to know Cori and Derel over the past several months in our small group and have enjoyed them so much.  We were very sad to see them go and hope to visit them in the future. 

 

The other couple in the picture with us is Betsy and Nick with their adorable son Silas.  The 5 of us LOVE Tucson and are holding down the fort  here as people come and go. 

 

Our other friends who moved away are the Jankowski's, who moved down to Mexico and the Evan's family who moved back to Texas.  We expect to see the Jank's often as they will come to Tucson regularly and we will go visit them in Mexico once it cools down.  The Evan's are planting a church in San Antonio and we wish them well.  The sheep of that flock will be extremely blessed to have Luke as their preacher as he is unusually gifted.  God Bless you guys!! 

Old World Visitors

Last month we had the pleasure of hosting friends from... IRELAND!  My good friend Catrin (who is originally from Wales) and her new husband Len came to the U.S. for a nice long holiday and made a stop in the Old Pueblo to see us for a few days.  It was great fun having them!  While they were here we showed them around Tucson, took them to our favorite stores and restaurants for real Mexican food, to San Xavier Mission, to Nogales, Mexico, to hear Mariachi,  Matt took Len shooting guns for a real American/wild west experience, and most importantly we introduced them to American wine and taught them how to play spades!  Here are a few pics from their stay, which also happened to fall over Matt's birthday.

At San Xavier Mission

Indian Fry Bread at the Mission

At La Roca restaurant in Nogales, Mexico

Ordering at La Roca

Len and Matt proud of their targets

Spades 101

Matt's birthday spoil

 What a good time!  Catrin and Len, we love you and are happy to have you anytime you're stateside!

Tucson Wildlife

Spring is here and so are the quail- yay!  I love to see the babies following their parents around.  Each morning droves of them march through our front yard.  They are so cute!

This rabbit was caught cooling off in the damp soil near my rosemary bush.  Lucky for that rabbit I didn't catch him eating my rosemary or I would have let Indi at him!

Shower Gone Mexican!

Sadly, I can't find any pics of what the shower looked like when we bought this house.  Suffice it to say the master bath in this house was designed in a really stupid way so that we had to remove a wall and door and raise the ceiling before we could re-tile this shower as it was a small dark cave.  We haven't been able to use the shower since we moved back to Tucson so it is awesome to finally have it in working order.  Tavo helped removing the wall, raising the ceiling, and installing some new lights and a decorative beam but the tiling was all Matt.  It took us quite a while to decide on the tile.  We ended up going with this beautiful Mexican talavera and cobalt arabesque tile for the accent and an Italian brick shaped ceramic for the main tile.  It turned out just as stunningly as I thought it would.  Good job, Honey!

Celebrating 1 Year Back in Tucson

This past weekend Matt and I had a special dinner to celebrate our 1 year anniversary of being back in our beloved city of Tucson! 

We prepared our favorite special occassion meal which consisted of gorgeous steaks that Matt grilled to perfection, the best potatoes ever and Bill's mushrooms.  We drank our best bottle of wine, Souverain Cabernet Sauvingnon (winemaker's reserve, 2005) from the Alexander Valley.  We finished the evening with chocolate molten cakes.

Praise be to God for bringing us back to the land that we love!

C.S.W.

Also while my Mom was here I finally received my exam results in the mail from the recent wine test I took up in Phoenix last month.  The test was through the Society of Wine Educators for their first level certification which is a Certified Specialist of Wine (CSW).  I passed with a 99% score and can now attach C.S.W. to my business card. 

The day I got my results my Mom cooked us a very delicious dinner of melt in your mouth beef short ribs with horse radish mashed potatoes.  What a feast to celebrate my exam!  Ridge Three Valleys was the perfect pairing for this delectable meal.

Thanks be to my loving husband who helped me prepare for my exam with an obscene amount of flashcards!

Minnesota Visitors!

My Mom and my sister Jamie came down for a visit last week.  It was snowing in Minnesota on the day they flew out (May 1st... who lives there?!).  I was very excited to see them and for them to see our house since they hadn't been to it yet.  We had a very good time together shopping, going out to eat, cooking and just hanging out.  While my mom was here she knit about a dozen scarves and gave half of them to me.  She is a knitting maniac!

Times of Refreshment

After a very difficult week we were extremely blessed by God who brought our very good friends to town this weekend.  We had a couple of great nights with the Richards, the Rottmans and the Jankowskis.  We even had a toast to our everlasting friendship with Nicolas Feuillatte!

Good times!  We love and miss you all!

Another Way to Enjoy Wine?!

I got a great DIY book just recently and it had a curious recipe in it for something called wine jelly!  I couldn't believe I found yet another way to enjoy wine!

I whipped up my first batch last night using a French blend of Viognier and Muscat.  It was super easy and turned out great.  What a fantastic idea, this wine jelly!!  I had it this morning on my toasted and buttered English muffin and then again this afternoon with some crackers and goat cheese-  yum!  I can't wait to make it hundred more times with a hundred differerent wines- yay!

 This amazing recipe can be found here.

Ryanhood at Plush

Last Friday night we got to see Ryanhood in concert finally!  I have been waiting for them to play since we moved back.  They played a few months back while we were in Minnesota so I was really happy when they announced this recent show.  We saw them at a little club on Fourth Avenue called Plush.  I have never been there before but it turned out to be a great venue.   We got there just early enough to steal some chairs from the back patio and plop them right down in front of the stage.  It was awesome!  Ryanhood is an acoustic folk duo with sweet guitar skills and beautiful harmonies.  God definitly made them to sing and play music together!  The band that opened for them was also very good.  They are called Run Boy Run and hail from Tempe.  They have five pieces: a standing base, cello, 2 fiddles and a mandolin.  The three girls in the band did all the singing and had beautiful harmonies.  Their music sounded like they were from Ireland.  I enjoyed them quite a bit and will buy their album when it comes out next month.  I also had a fantastic glass of wine while enjoying the show.  It was a blend of Chardonnay, Torrontes and Sauvingnon Blanc from Argentina by La Posta- yum!!

Choose the Wine!

Earlier this month we were invited to attend a dinner at one of Tucson's top steak houses.  This dinner happens once a year as a couple of medical reps take out the perfusion team and their spouses to a nice dinner to say thank you for buying all their medical equipment.  At the dinner it was brought to the host's attention that I am in wine so he asked me to choose the wine for the table.  I was afraid this might happen.  I have no problem choosing my own wine and relish the thought of food and wine pairing but to do this for a table of people.... yikes!  On top of this the host gave me pretty strict parameters in price and varietal.  Since most people were having steak I knew we needed Cabernet Sauvingon (the wine's tannins and the steak's fat are a match made in heaven) but the host insisted we have a Chardonnay and a Pinot Noir.  It was quite sad to have the best steak I ever had paired with the wrong wine but what can you do?  I picked a full bodied Chardonnay from California and a red Burgundy.  I suggested a Cabernet too but he wouldn't go for it.  Somehow I talked him into some bubbles and we started the dinner with a Champagne toast with my favorite Champagne, Nicolas Feuillatte!

For dessert we had creme brullee.  It was the best creme brullee I have ever had and one of the best desserts I have ever eaten in my life.  I hope to return to Flemmings to have this dessert again someday!

Distinguishing Law and Gospel

     Principles for living, practical advice, secrets of victorious living, calls to discipleship, and instruction all fall under the catergory of law, whether they are offered sternly or gently, whether they are God's commands or our own.  The point is not to jettison these words, but (a) to make sure they are God's words rather than our own, and (b) to recognize that even when they are God's, they are different from God's word of gospel; the good news that although we have not done any of the things we said we would do, Christ has been made our "righteousness, holiness and redemption" (1 Cor. 1:30). The law tells us what God expects of us; the gospel tells us what God has done for us.
    So law and gospel are not inheretly opposed, but when it comes to how we are saved, these two principles could not be more antithetical. And since our faith at every moment is threatened by our natural tendency to be distracted from its object- Christ- we need the gospel placarded before us not just at the beginning but throughout the Chrsitian life. The gospel is for Christians too.  We need to be evangelized every week. It is not by following Christ's example but by actually ebing inserted into Christ, clothed with Crsit, united to Christ- as the Spirit creates faith through the gospel- that we are not only justified but sanctified as well.
     -Michael Horton, Christless Christianity (pg. 124-125) 

Thanksgiving in Tucson

 Thanksgiving in Tucson,  78 degrees and sunny!

We sat outside and enjoyed a delicious feast prepared by Sandi.  We had many different wines:

• Sparkling Cabernet Franc from the Loire Valley, France
• Sauvignon Blanc from Marlborough, New Zealand
• Garnacha from Catalyud, Sapin
•  Cabernet Sauvignon from Sonoma, Californa

And to go with the dessert course:

• A semi-sweet Vouvray (Chenin Blanc) from Loire Valley, France
• Late Bottle Vintage Port from Portugal

A fantastic meal on a beautiful day with great company!

Good Job Bill!

Each year in Tucson there is major bike ride around the city called Tour de Tucson.  Matt's dad who is 68 yrs old rides in it and does the whole tour which is 110 miles.  We met him at the finish line to congratulate him this year.  Good job, Bill!

Trick or Treat!

Last month when I went home I was there over Halloween and got to go trick or treating with my niece and nephews.  I brought Jax the cutest Halloween costume ever- a suagaro cactus made by Sandi.  I got the idea from Matt who was  a sugargo when he was little.  The body was made with green cloth and had ridges and the needles were made of yellow yarn- so cute!  

First you will see the fitting.  Getting a costume on a 15 month old is no small chore.  It took several people.  Since Sandi didn't know exactly how big Jax was she made the costume oversized so we could trim it down and fit it to him. 

We started our Halloween night at the grocery store where my sister Jamie works.  The first trick or treating station was at the store's floral counter.  The ladies there knew what Jax was right away! 

We took to the neighborhood at about 5:45.  I pushed Jax in his stroller.  It was a crisp 37 degrees out.  Regan, Jane and I shared a thermos of Baily's hot chocolate with heavy cream.  I ran Jax up to as many houses as I could.  It was a real workout as sometimes we were off-roading through people's yards.  He made it about an hour before he had enough.  Pete came and rescued him and the rest of us continued for a couple more hours.  Half way through we picked up the truck and headed across the main road to the other side of the neighborhood.  The kids jumped in and out of the back of the truck as we continued down many more streets (just like the way my dad used to drive us when we were little).  By the end of the night the kids had over 22 pounds of candy!

Minnesota Style

Unfortunately the only way I was able to take pics in Minnesota last month was with my phone.  This is a pic of my niece Liberty doing her favorite winter sport at the YMCA: log rolling!  She really takes log rolling lessons and is started to compete in log rolling competitions this month.  This truly is Minnesota Style!

Awwww!

Last month we went to Minnesota and saw my family.  Jax was cuter than ever!

Don't Blame Me...

...I didn't vote for the status quo Obomny.

Member!

A few weekends ago a very special event occured.  Matt became a member of Rincon Mountain PCA.  In this picture he is being introduced to the congregation, taking his membership vows and being received into fellowship.  As Pastor Phil went down the line to each person it was so sweet to see him stop at Matt and give him a big ol' bear hug.  Precious times!

The Toughest Tooth in the West

Recently we found a lump on the Sharptooth.  We did not want to have to take him to the vet because he hates it so much but we knew we had to in case it was the beginning of a cancerous tumor.  Yesterday morning I brought him to our trusty vet Rocco who is a master of veterinary practices.  Sharptooth has seen Rocco a number of times and hates him with a passion.  This normally docile, laid back Tooth turns into a ferocious mountain lion at the vet and yesterday was no exception.  We had to dump him out of his carrier, and put a towel over him so Rocco could give him a shot to relax him so that he would be able to give him the gas for the surgery.  Rocco gives lightning fast shots so that was good but then he attempted to pick Sharptooth up and place him in the clinic kennel.  Sharptooth escaped his hold and ran all over the clinic like a wild man, hissing and growling and striking at anyone who came near.  Luckily Rocco opened the kennel door and Sharptooth ran inside instead of hiding in some place that would have been impossible to get him out of.  

I went to work and got a call about an hour later that the vet staff had to give him a second  and stronger kind of shot because he would still not cooperate.  A vet without serious sedation is no match for the Sharptooth's raw power!!  About an hour after that the vet called again letting me know the surgery was done and Sharptooth made it through just fine.  Upon picking him up he was groggy and still quite sedated.  Rocco had removed a mass called a lipoma which he said he has seen many times, usually in dogs, and he did not think it was cancerous. It was a bit smaller than a golf ball in size. 

Sharptooth was shaved in a few places and has 10 stitches which Rocco told Matt he could remove in 2 weeks (good luck, Honey!).  We took him home where he promptly headed towards his favorite sleeping spot, on our bed between our pillows.  He could hardly walk without falling over (drunk Tooth) and seemed miserable. Poor cat!  He slept all night and seems better today.  

We were so relieved the lump was not a cancerous tumor that we celebrated by opening our best wine, Souverain, Cabernet Sauvingnon 2007, and praised the Lord for His great mercy to us!  The Sharptooth and Matt and I extend a hardy thank you for all the prayers!