Saturday School

I went to school this Saturday; that's right, I taught on a Saturday!  Two Saturdays a year families join their children to spend a half day at Hope in their child's classroom.  It was a fun day.  The kids were really looking forward to it; each day we would count down on the calendar the number of days left before "Saturday School". 

After school Angela Swan (first grade teacher) and I headed to the park with some of our students and families for a family photo shoot. 

"W" Family

"H" Family

"P" Family

"M" Family

This was my last family to take photos of so I took my time :)

What beautiful families!  I love my job :)

Date Night (at home)

Josh and I try to maintain a tradition of having at least one date each week.  Dates can be anything from dinner, walking to the local coffee shop, heading to the farmer's market...the possibilities are endless!  My favorite dates are the ones Josh plans; he has great ideas.  This Thursday  when he picked me up from work he greeted me with flowers (always a great way to start date night :) ).

Josh not only surprised me with flowers but also with the offer to make dinner.  We had steak, shrimp, and vegetables.  He is a great chef!

Heart-shaped shrimp...what a guy :)

A Cup of Hot Cocoa

I have been blessed abundantly by working at Hope Academy.  Every morning the staff come together to share Scripture and pray before students arrive.  On Tuesday one of my teaching friends encouraged us to love God more by sharing a story with us.  This story was a collection of children's thoughts on God (their adorable illustrations accompanied each page).  My favorite entry was written by a young girl, six years old as I recall,  who wrote, "God's love is like drinking hot cocoa after you've been pushed into the snow".  What a beautiful understanding of God's love!  These little ones can teach me so much!

"J Family" Evening Out

Josh, Jemimah and I decided to spend our Saturday evening at Barnes and Noble.  Josh and I shared a delicious salted caramel hot chocolate from Starbucks and Jemimah stuck with a regular hot chocolate.  I had to smile to myself as I noticed how we were spending our time at the book store...

Notice Josh on the i-pod (he's googling "how to catch a mouse" :) ).  I browsed home design books.

and Jemimah found Seventeen's "Traumarama" very amusing.



It was a nice evening.  I was even able to purchase a book with a birthday gift card I got from one of my students.  I chose Style Stitches by Amy Butler.  The photography and bag designs are beautiful  and inspirational.  I have been pouring over the pages since Saturday.  I'm not sure of which project to start sewing!  I already have another Amy Butler book called In Stitches and I have loved it.

Thankful for a (dead) Mouse

Days had passed and still...no mouse (but no pythons either so it was okay).  Josh had spent a lot of time, energy, and a good chunk of change to catch this thing.  Well, we had put our mouse business aside for Monday evening because our small group was meeting at our place.  Our group has been meeting in our home since September.  Twelve of us come together to discuss the Bible, pray, and share our lives with each other.  October 18th was no ordinary small group.  I just so happened to have my camera in the living room :).   

  We seem to have lured in another member to the group with the smell of popcorn on the coffee table.  In the middle of giving our updates and prayer requests someone yelled "MOUSE" and within seconds all of the girls were standing on the couch and filling our home with high-pitched screams!  The guys leaped into action by storming the mouse into the bathroom.  This made the girls calm down for a few brief seconds until the boys decided they were going to try and terminate this mouse immediately.  Poor Garrett was in the bathroom attempting to identify the whereabouts of the mouse when the furry little guy ran up his leg.....HIS LEG!  He shook him off of course and the mouse proceeded to run wildly through our living room giving us girls another chance to strengthen our vocal chords.  The chase ended with a loud swat from Josh who bravely killed the mouse with a broom.  He said he went quickly; he also said he was "kind of cute".  I felt a little sad and a little triumphant at the same time.  The mouse is dead (Josh made sure of that) and I haven't laughed so hard in months.  Sharing life with people can be very entertaining.

*Photo credit to Emilie Toll

Thankful for a Mouse?

    I was scrambling to make my lunch Friday morning (as usual) when I noticed small shreds of something in the pantry.  I had noticed this the other day but swept it up thinking Josh or Jemimah spilled oatmeal while shuffling through the cupboard.  This time I took a closer look to see what all the messiness was about.  I picked up a bag of sunflower seeds (already de-shelled) and seeds flowed through a small hole at the bottom of the bag.  Eww!!  I then realized the shreds were the husks of the small sunflower seeds!  I was mortified because Thursday I had used those seeds in my salad.  Yep, I shared my sunflower seeds with a stinkin' mouse; that's disgusting.  Anyways, this morning and afternoon Josh and I have been mouse hunting.  Josh made a run to home depot and came back with a bag full of supplies to de-mouse our house.

    I was in the midst of throwing myself a pity party when I  called my sister to complain.  She plainly told me she has been living with mice for two years.  Okay, that's pretty rough; but I can still feel sorry for a little while right?  Not exactly... what really makes me think I have it easy is that Jemimah told me at breakfast that growing up in Thailand she has had a PYTHON in her house, twice...a PYTHON.  So, I will stop sulking about (a?) mouse and be thankful it's not a monstrous life-threatening snake...VERY THANKFUL.

Coffee with Katie

Meet Katie.  She is a very good friend of mine.  Last Monday she took me to breakfast at The Bad Waitress in Uptown.  It was a refreshing time catching up on life, pondering the future, and encouraging one another in the gospel.  I am thankful for Katie and the hope she speaks to me when I see her;

especially on a Monday morning.

Yummy Yellow Curry

Josh and I cooked this curry Saturday night and had plenty left over to freeze for another meal.  Here's what you'll need to make "Yummy Yellow Curry":

-4 chicken breasts (cut into 1 inch thick slices)
-3 teaspoons turmeric
-3 whole star anise, crushed
-3 garlic cloves
-one pinch of ginger
-grated zest of 1 lime
-1/2 a lime of lime juice

-2 Tablespoons fish sauce

-2 Tablespoons chili oil
-1 Tablespoon dark soy sauce
-1 Tablespoon peanut oil
-10 Chinese long beans (cut into 2 inch lengths)
-1 onion chopped
-2 cups coconut milk
-sliced red, green, and orange chilies to serve

You may be asking "Where do I find Chinese long beans?" or some of the other ingredients...our favorite Asian Market is United Noodles.

Here's how to cook it:
   Place the cut chicken in a large freezer bag.  Rub in the turmeric, star anise, garlic, ginger, and lime zest.  Sprinkle on the soy sauce, fish sauce, half the chili oil, and the lime juice.  Coat the chicken well  and leave in the refrigerator to marinate 1 hour or overnight. 
   Heat the wok, add the peanut oil and remaining chili oil and heat until hot, then add the chicken pieces.  Cook at a high heat for 1-2 minutes; turn down the heat and continue cooking until cooked through.  Add the beans, the onion, the extra marinade, and the coconut milk.  Stir well.  Bring to a boil stirring slowly.  Simmer for 10-15 minutes until chicken is tender.  Sprinkle with sliced chilies and serve with hot Jasmine rice.  Enjoy!

The original recipe was taken from "Wok" by Elsa Petersen-Scheperlern and tweaked by the Jacobs' :)

(Belated) Birthday

My sister Justine just turned 23 in September.  We celebrated last Sunday by doing some of our shared "favorite things".  We browsed thrift stores and drank spyhouse caramellas.  It was a delightful afternoon spent with a delightful person.  Justine loves vintage finds and good coffee but above all she loves Jesus and make me love Him more too.  

Family, Farmer's Market, Fresh

My mom and dad spent the day with us this past Saturday.  We have a tradition of celebrating my sister's birthday and my birthday together (both of our birthdays are in September).  Mom always makes incredible meals to commemorate the day.  This year we had a delicious brunch complete with spinach quiche, pumpkin bread chunks (I meant it to be slices but took it out of the pan too early...), and of course strong coffee.  I mixed pumpkin butter with cream cheese and it made a delicious spread for the pumpkin bread!

After brunch we headed to the farmer's market.  Nothing beats the farmer's market on a crisp fall day.

On our way back to the car I ran into a dear friend of mine (Megan Mathis), her mom, and her adorable twin boys (Coleman and Carson). 

We spent the rest of the afternoon at Lake Calhoun.

It was a beautiful day blessed by family!

(photo credit to my sister Justine for some of these pictures)