Nemacolin

SO, John and I got the opportunity to go to Nemacolin, a 5 Star 5 Diamond resort about 2 hours south of us here in PA. We went as a field trip with his class last Sunday and had a great time. This place is amazing! And the food....oh my goodness! Of course, that was the whole reason we were there. The Executive Chef for the entire resort is an IUP Culinary grad and he was great to us!



We took this because we thought it was really funny. John is currently in a wine, spirits and beers class that he has to do tasting for. Don't worry, he spits it out and doesn't swallow. :-)

They put on quite a spread for us. This was a yummy flourless chocolate cake.


Shrimp and Crab legs. Yummy!

This is John's class. Can you find John???

There he is!!!

Hope you enjoy!

Good News!

We learned yesterday that John has been accepted into the second year Baking and Pastry Arts program at his school. We are very excited about this as it will help us tremendously in decision making in the near future. I was actually at the school when he got his letter....my heart was pounding and I was more than a little nervous. :-) But God is faithful and we feel this is what He called us here to accomplish, so Praise the Lord!
I had yesterday off for President's Day, so John arranged it so that I could observe some of the classes at the academy. It was really interesting! I watched one class decorated sculpted fruit with food colored gels. That was pretty cool. And I tasted duck liver...probably won't ever eat it again, but it didn't kill me. :-) It was neat to see what John works on all day and I enjoyed talking with some of his chefs.
We spent the weekend in Pittsburgh. John's sister Julie was in town, so we went to visit her. We had a relaxing time of playing games and watching movies.....and I did laundry. Really that is a blessing because it is expensive to use the laundromats and they don't clean or dry nearly as well. All in all, a great weekend!
And our Valentine's Day was nice, too. We didn't do anything special, but I did get flowers and we rented a movie. Friday night we had some friends over for dinner and watched a Brian Regan comedy video. If you haven't seen this guy, he is absolutely hilarious...and his comedy is clean, which is a nice change.
I think that is about it. We do have one request....John would like to know which pastry (bread, cake, pie, muffin, etc.) you would most like for him to learn to make. He says if you want to taste it, he will have to learn how to make it. :-) I must say, it is a wonder we both haven't gained 50 pounds yet. He makes some pretty tasty stuff. Yesterday, they were preparing to make a chocolate ganache cake....YUMMMY!!
Love to all...

Alive and Well in the great state of PA

I haven't posted in a while. Not much different is going on. John finished his first block of school on a high note and we are both very glad that he is back in the kitchen again. He is in his baking block right now, so that probably means I'll have a bunch of extra food around for a while. He has turned in his application for the Baking and Pastry Arts class next year. We are really praying that he will be accepted, but if not, we have several options to consider. We should know in a couple of weeks if he is accepted or not.

I am doing well in my job. I actually got a raise that I wasn't expecting, so that was nice. It makes me feel good to know my work is appreciated. :-) Other than that, I haven't been up to too much. I am still enjoying working with the Kid's Choir at church. The little kids have started coming in to sing with us, which is a lot of fun. They sing with such gusto! And they are really cute, too!

We have made some plans for our anniversary, which I am really excited about. We figured since we want to open a bed and breakfast someday, we should actually go stay at one and see what it is like. :-) We are also planning a trip to Oklahoma in May to see my sister, Brooke, graduate. I'm really excited about that. I found out I can't just take three days off from work. I have to take a whole week, so we'll be there a little longer than we had planned, hopefully.

I hope everything is going well with everyone out there. We would love to hear from you, so just drop us on email (hendersonhome2006@yahoo.com) or something sometime!

Talk to you later

A Good Weekend and a Busy Week

Well, it is officially VERY COLD here. We had been having some really nice weather for January, but over the weekend it turned bitterly cold with single digit temps and then yesterday it started snowing off and on all day. Not so much fun since I had to drive up to Punxy for dinner with John. But, we made it...more about that later.

We had a really good weekend. Saturday, we went to Monroeville, which is about an hour SW of Indiana. We were pleasantly surprised to find a really good mall there as well as some really nice restaurants. There are not a whole lot of places to shop or sit down restaurants in Indiana so it was nice to spend the day wandering around. We actually went there to go to Sam's, which is John's favorite store :-), and we ended up having a really great little road trip. We walked around the mall, which actually has an Orange Julius, Chick-fil-a and a Kirklands....all of which I associate with mall shopping. Our mall in Indiana does not have these things, so now we know where to go to get our Chick-fil-a fix. :-) We went to lunch and Office Max and then headed home. Sunday was a nice and relaxing day. We had over one of John's classmates for dinner. She lives right up the street from us and she and John are going to carpool to school. This is a great answer to prayer as it will save on gas money and wear and tear on the car. We were both off Monday for a holiday and just spent the day working around the house and getting John more organized for school.

Yesterday, we both headed off to school and work anticipating a great day. And it was a great day....but it started snowing. Now, those of you who know me well know that I do not enjoy driving in snowy conditions. This would not have been a big deal except that I was supposed to make the 45 minute drive to Punxutawney, where John is in school, to enjoy a fine dining experience with he and some of his classmates. I had really been looking forward to this so that I could meet some of his classmates.....but it started snowing....So, I watched the snow fall off and on all day yesterday. It wasn't too bad, and I was determined to get to Punxy. The road were really slushy. Some of them were cleared pretty well, some of them were not. I went about 40 mph the whole way. It took me almost an hour to get there, but I made it and didn't hit any deer or skid off the road, so I felt good about that. We enjoyed a really good dinner at "Mary's Place" and then made the return journey. I followed John the whole way home, so that was a little easier. :-) It ended up being a really nice evening and we had some great food!

We have a busy week ahead of us with school and work. Pray for John. He is not in the kitchen this block and his classes are very challenging. If he can make it through the next two weeks, I think he'll fly through the rest of the semester! I'll talk to you later...

Back to the Old Grind

Well, school has started again for John. And with school has come the snow. We have had a very mild two weeks with temperatures in the 50's and 60's. It has just been beautiful. But of course, now that John has to drive 40 minutes up to Punxy in the early morning, it has started to snow again. :-) But, that's life here in PA I guess.

We have seen God move in so many ways since our move. He has provided for every need and blessed us beyond measure the past few months. It is almost hard to get back into a "normal" routine. We both feel as if we have really settled in and are beginning to enjoy life here instead of feeling like outsiders. We are really excited about what God is doing in our church and hope to be able to join a couples Bible study in February. We have really missed our Sunday School class in OK and the encouragement we received for our marriage and hope this Bible study will provide that encouragement again. And, we are still going to the YMCA on a regular basis and its half way through January!!! We really are enjoying it and are taking it slowly. This is for my benefit more than John's. :-)

John is set for a very busy and challenging semester. I think he came home a little overwhelmed yesterday, but I'm praying that he will just take things one day at a time and learn as much as he can this spring. It will make his summer semester so much better! We will have some pretty big decisions to make in preparation for next year. There are several options John could explore that could possibly be more beneficial than continuing on with Baking and Pastry Arts (too complicated to try to explain here), but for now, that is still our plan. Please pray that we will continue to seek the Lord about these decisions and recognize His will for us. We have nothing to fear because we know the One who is in control, so we just need to be willing to follow where He leads us.

We love and miss you all! Have a great week!

Update.....

There is not much going on around here. The most exciting thing that happened was I got my first paycheck last Friday. Yea for payroll!!! Other than that, John is enjoying his last week of break and I am having a better week at work. Last week was a little rough with end of the year stuff, but I got through it. John and I are enjoying going to the Y together. I was a little sore after the first day we weightlifted, but it really is fun to go and workout together. No other news to report, so have a great week!

Happy New Year!

I don't usually get too excited about New Year's. Other than my friend Charlanne having a birthday, I don't usually think it is that big of a deal. But, I am really looking forward to the new year. God has done so much for John and I this year and I am looking forward to what He has in store for us this year. I know it will be a year filled with different challenges, but I know there will be some great victories for us, too!
One thing I am really looking forward to is taking advantage of our new membership to the YMCA in town. We decided to spend some of our Christmas money on a membership and can't wait to get started. We are making an effort to be more health conscious this year and I think it will be fun for us to do this together. It is also very important for us to stay focussed this year. This is especially true for John. We are here for one purpose....to get John through culinary school. While we have gotten involved in church, John especially has had to sacrifice some activities that he enjoys in order to stay on task with school. I am very proud of him and expect he will only do better in school as he works toward his goal of becoming a pastry chef. I think we both understand that a few sacrifices now will be worth it in the end. God has richly blessed us and I look forward to His new blessings this year!