We're Taking a Trip To....

Papua New Guinea!

Today it became official when we booked our flights. It feels unreal, but we're excited for this upcoming 6 week trip!

Check out this panoramic view that we'll have while there... (photo taken by Chris Jones)

Our church, Christ's Covenant Church, supports our friends Chris and Evie Jones, and they are preparing to allocate into the tribe with the people group they are going to work with. We're stoke for them! Along with this process, they wanted men from our church with carpentry skills to come and help them build their houses in the tribe. Their house is going to look something like this (except not surrounded by sand... Chris is super techie, if you can't tell!)

So Ben has great carpentry skills AND we're currently planning on moving to PNG around 2015 or 2016 to do mission work there, so this was a perfect opportunity for us. While the opportunity is amazing, it involved some tough decisions like Ben quitting his job (as he can't take time off), being gone over thanksgiving, going there with a 1 year old and with me (Alisha) being pregnant, etc. We're thankful for our church elders and deacons who advised us wisely.

So, Lord willing, we will be heading to PNG in the beginning of November and will be there until the middle of December. We can't wait to experience PNG and come back to tell you all about it!

The Newest Member of the Miller Household

Yesterday we learned that our second child is a girl! We're so excited that Sophie will get to have a little sister that she can share lots of memories with. We took some fun pictures to announce with! (Photos by Created By Carrie Photography. She's awesome!)

Why I Avoided Pinterest... and Why I Finally Caved

I avoided Pinterest for a long time. I did so because I already have enough things to do and check online and really didn't need one more. Plus, I heard from plenty of people who said they spent hours pinning things but never actually making or doing any of the things they pinned. I was afraid I'd be one of those people as I know my creativity motivation... and it's pretty low.

Well, I wouldn't say I love to cook, but I do enjoy it. I think I enjoy it even more while pregnant. I found myself googling recipes, and it was annoying to have to click on every link to see what the recipe looked like. I began thinking it might be a good idea to join Pinterest so that I could get recipes more easily (I love being able to see a picture!). I'll admit... part of me was being stubborn because I was proud I had held off on getting it for so long. But finally I decided to get it.

And I have not turned out to be one of those people who pins all day long and does nothing about it! Ben has been very happy with my decision to join as he's gotten lots of good food out of it (he told me if I made at least one recipe a week, I was allowed to stay on it, haha!)

I've made EIGHT recipes in the 2.5 weeks since I joined! And quite a few of them have been really good.

I made Chick-fil-A Bites that were amazing- I think they were the biggest hit! They really weren't too complicated either. Now here's the shame part... I've never had real Chick-fil-A Bites, so I don't know if these compare or not. But they're really good either way. Definitely worth trying! 

Other main dishes I made were:
- Bourbon Chicken (I LOVE the bourbon chicken place at our mall- I would say this wasn't quite as good, but it was close!... You have to scroll down in the link...
- Sweet and Sour Chicken (I love sweet and sour anything, so it was good of course, but I think I had my hopes too high)
- Chicken Ranch Tacos (These were great, but really not much different than regular chicken tacos made over the stove with just taco seasoning)

I also saw this thing floating around on Pinterest about how you could hard boil eggs in the oven. I was a fan! I hate hard boiling eggs on the stovetop. So I gave it a try, and they turned out great! The only thing is that you have to make sure you push the pan back far enough in the oven because the ones in front didn't cook quite as good for me as the ones in back.

The most addicting part of Pinterest for me is the desserts... mmm yumm!

Last night, I made No-Bake Peanut Butter Cookies. They are delicious, of course. http://mysoulisthesky.blogspot.com/2011/09/no-bake-peanut-butter-cookies.html
Other desserts I made:
-No Bake Energy Bites (These were ok, but I used regular oats instead of rolled oats because it's what I had, and it made it much harder for them to stick together).
- Healthy Banana Cookies (I'm a chocolate... and sugar lover... so these wouldn't be my first choice by any means... but Sophie loved them, so they're a great healthy cookie for a 1 yr-old)

All in all, I would say my joining Pinterest has been a success.

Sophie's First Trip to the Zoo

On Wednesday, Sophie took her first trip to the zoo. Ben had off work, and we have been talking about going all summer, so we finally went. It was the perfect time to go because it was late in the season, kids were in school, and we went early in the morning, so it wasn't very crowded. We also left just in time before the rain came, so we had perfect weather too.

I started babysitting this week, so the boy I babysit for came along too! Here they are looking at the hyenas.

Sophie checking out some animals...

Looking at the lion.

Giraffes!

Sophie's favorite animal was the orangutang. They were so fun to watch as they swung from one rope to the next.

There was a little farm area, so Sophie got to pet the goat. She's probably one of the few one year-olds that go to the zoo and yell out, "Goat!" when she sees a goat. Thanks to Grandpa and Grandma Miller, she knows what goats are and love them.

All in all, we had a great day at the Ft Wayne Children's Zoo! Sophie will probably enjoy it a little more in the next couple of years, but it was fun to take her.